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Sea shanties and maritime music

The songs of the sea have a long legacy of scholarship, musicianship, and public performance. From the work songs of deep-water sailors and fishermen, to the ballads taken into pubs and forecastles, these songs have been used to coordinate effort, remember shore life, and sometimes just pass the time.

The songs themselves have been passed from ship to ship, printed in newspapers and books, shared at festivals, learned from video games, and remixed on social media. Hundreds of sea music-specific albums have been recorded, and maritime music comprises a distinct genre.

This Day in History (February 29, 1908)

This Day in History (January 8, 1806)

The death of Lord Nelson was a national tragedy like no other for England. "From Greenwich to Whitehall Stairs, on the 8th of January, 1806, in one of the greatest Aquatic Processions that ever was beheld on the River Thames" drifted the royal shallop (barge). The event is referenced in the modern lament, Carrying Nelson Home. Nelson is mentioned in nearly a dozen other songs.

Try a random shanty sampling

Rocks In De Mountens
Forecastle song

Rocks in de mountens shine like dimons,
Rocks in de mountens shine like dimons,
Rocks in de mountens shine like dimons,
Let 'em shine, babe, let 'em shine

Take dis haim-mah, gib it to de capten, (thrice)
Tell 'im I'm gone, babe, tell 'im I'm gone.

Dis same haim-mah kill Jack Johnson, (thrice)
Didn' kill me, babe, didn' kill me.
Pique la Baleine
Whaling song

For to find my love again, oh, me boys!

Oh, la, oh! la, la, la!
Strike the whale, lovely harpooner,
Strike the whale, I willingly sail!

To a thousand seas I sail, oh, me boys!

The seas of the North and of the South, oh, me boys!

I'll find my love even if she's drowned, oh, me boys!

I'll find her awaiting me in the great deeps, oh, me boys!

Embraced with her will be my bed, oh, me boys!
The Campañero
Heaving shanty

Oh, whenever I went away, the story I'd like to tell,
About an 'andy little bark, the Campañero!

Oh, the skipper, he is a bulldozer,
And you never did hear the words that come from a man's mouth so often.
The mate he wants to fight, and the durin' every night,
The boys around the hatch they all surround him.

So it's between the coko and the pump,
Well, they drive me off me chump
On that handy little bark, the Campañero!
But if it's ever up to me,
Well, I'd never go to sea,
About that handy little bark, the Campañero!

Well, I'd have you all to know that wherever you do go,
If you see the name a-running fore-and-aft her,
Don't jine her anywhere, or you'll never forget the day
That you jined that 'andy little bark, the Campañero!

You may ring around the world, and go just where you please.
She's a livin' at a single time for days and months.
But if you'll take a sailor's advice, you'll get married once or twice,
Before you jine that 'andy little bark, the Campañero!
Haul on the Anchor Chain
Modern song

Ch: Haul on the anchor chain
And pull on the oar
And we'll raise a glass together
If we reach the other shore

The turn around to Bainbridge
Is an hour forty flat
You can listen to even Steven
Or the lovely singin' Kat*

The Captain comes from Kansas
He's a mighty sailing man
For a guy whose lost his glasses
He does the very best he can

From the pier at Point Defiance
On the blue Commencement Bay
The breezes waft across the water
To wish you gaily on your way

The first mate is quite jolly
From the funnels right on down
He know every little cubby hole
where a bottle can be found

The galley is so spacious
Its a delight to the eye
And the food is so delicious
As we all can testify

By the mighty diesel engines
the engineer is vigilant
If the Cabin Boy remembers
To go down and wake him up

The pilot is kept busy
Ironing shirts and mending socks
But I'll be darned if he can keep her
Off the shoals or the rocks

So remember weary travelers
If you're looking for some fun
The finest to be had's on the ferries
in the State of Washington
Mainsail Café, 2025 Contact