Art of Manliness: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness
Hyder Kazmi
· 1 year ago
YES! I love sea shanties. My first (and only, really) exposure to them was this double-disc set, compiled by Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski (the actor and the producer from Pirates of the Caribbean) of a bunch of sea shanties and ballads and such sung by modern folk singers.
It's called A Rogue's Gallery and has most of the songs mentioned in this post; one of my favorites is Coast of High Barbary, sung in this collection by Loudon Wainright III. There're some absolutely GORGEOUS songs, including one by Bono and Blood Red Roses by Sting.
Check it out, it really is something to listen to :)
Daniel Richard
· 1 year ago
I've sent this on to a friend who's going to be on the seas for a full month. Lol. :D
Emily
· 1 year ago
If you've ever seen the "Horatio Hornblower" miniseries on A&E, they sing "Spanish Ladies" in one of those, too.
Bart
· 1 year ago
Indeed, the Horatio Hornblower series is awesome, and in itself a lesson on honor, strength and general manliness. "Spanish Ladies" is my favorite of all the shanties posted.
This post reminded me of something I read in the American Communication Journal about "learning to Yo!", a modern equivalent of singing a shanty to create a rhythm for working as a team. ( http://acjournal.org/holdings/vol4/iss2/article... )
Really cool article. Kudos Karmazon.
Guest
· 1 year ago
Can we get drinking songs next? Not that sea shanties aren't wonderful, but it would be cool to have both.
karmazon
· 1 year ago
I can write about old, traditional and nautical drinking songs too, haha.
Bernie Franks
· 1 year ago
Great post. I agree, some classic drinking songs would be nice for another post.
Britt
· 1 year ago
Fiddlers green has also been used by the Cavalry, there it is used to tell of the rest stop on the way down to hell, only for cav soldiers. Regular infantry march right on down, but cav get to stop on a green field and take a rest, have a cool drink and refill their canteens, before walking on down.
There is a line that says that if you find yourself in a hopeless situation, about to be overrun, drink your canteen empty, put you pistol to your head, and you will awaken in Fiddlers Green.
Rodney Hampton
· 1 year ago
Great post. I enjoyed reading the Horatio Hornblower books, but the miniseries left me a little cold. I wish they could have done more to give it a realistic look and feel.
Paul
· 1 year ago
Give us songs all day long, for sure, but lay off the sacramental theology. Extreme unction ("anointing of the sick" in modern parlance), while desirable, has never been regarded as a prerequisite for salvation. The fear of Irish sailors and laborers of dying in remote places without access to the sacraments derived from the timeless Catholic understanding that man is vulnerable to a variety of temptations, which, if succumbed to, have little chance of being repented of, and would be substantially assisted by the ministry of the Church in such an hour. The anointing and other last rites are not akin to the coin placed with Roman corpses to pay the ferry toll across the Styx. That is, the physical quality of having been anointed does not function as a required talisman for entering heaven.
I disagree with Paul. While Catholics have never thought of the sacrament of anointing the sick as a "talisman for entering heaven," it is not wrong to think of it an essential sacrament for doing so. The Church believes all sacraments are essential and are channels of God's grace. One of the purposes of last rites is to grant the person forgiveness of sins if they are unable to perform the sacrament of penance. And of course the sacrament of penance would come from confession of your sins to a priest. And if you were a sailor, such confession would of course been out of reach! So I would imagine that yes, they would have feared dying without their last rites.
Chris
· 1 year ago
one missing that should be there
What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?/Sailor’s Holiday.
Easily one of the manliest posts ever on this site. Educational, inspiring, and entertaining.
Sean
· 1 year ago
Here's a great sea shanty performed by Planxty, a great old irish traditional music group. It's called Sally Brown, and it's the best performance of a sea shanty I've ever heard: http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=fVKGnJ1thlI
Doconicus
· 1 year ago
I am so d--- glad you guys brought this up as an article.
If you want to hear a fantastic rendition of the previously mentioned songs, the 97th Regimental String Band had assembled nineteen great tunes all of which are sailor songs going back as far as Queens Anne War up to the U.S Civil War (though the epic song 'Sinking of the Columbia' is noticeably missing).
I stumbled across this album/CD when the Srgt of our Reenacting Group loaned it to me for my opinion. I never gave it back. (I hope he doesn't miss it) It's great, I even play if for my three your old son.
I have always loved sea shanties and continue hiustoric research on them.
Doconicus
richard
· 1 year ago
I'm a huge shanty fan, too, though I generally avoid the more modern versions of these classic songs. I much prefer the low-tech rough edges and raw choruses of the vintage versions from the 40s and 50s.
Some of my favorite albums (and yes, there are indeed songs about drinking and wenching, as well as the usual sailing ones) [in order of most fave to least]:
Blow Boys Blow by Ewan MacColl & A.L. Lloyd Whaling & Sailing Songs by Paul Clayton Shanties & Songs of the Sea by Johnny Collins, Dave Webber & Pete Watkinson
And just for fun, it's not really a sea shanty album, but has many buccaneer-inspired songs, Pegleg Tango by Captain Bogg & Salty. You'll hum or whistle these songs for about the next 6 months. Very tame pirate references makes this a great kids' album, too, though any fun-loving, pirate-minded adult will find much to love. "Pull Away Home" is a sweet and beautiful classic that deserves a hallowed spot in the catalog of sea-faring songs, authentic or not.
kickstand
· 1 year ago
Another good intro to Sea Shanties is the CD "Sea Music" by Dan Zanes and Friends.
A. Perry
· 1 year ago
Hate to be a nitpicker, but it's 'chanties' (as in chanter-'to sing' in French); 'shanties' are huts or shacks, as in the stereotype of 'shanty Irish', the putdown of poor/lower class Irish people.
pirate lover
· 1 year ago
actually, while the derivation is from the French chanter, you can use either spelling.
shanty, n.2, chant(e)y : [Said to be a corruption of F. chantez imper. of chanter to sing.] A sailor's song, esp. one sung during heavy work.
-Oxford English Dictionary
i'm a bit of a shanty/chanty nerd
also- they are very manly, but as a girl I still quite like them :D
karmazon
· 1 year ago
You can spell them either way, and I never see them spelled "chanties".
Bob Iger
· 1 year ago
I think it's great that Brett included "Spanish Ladies" in this list too. It's one of my favorite sea shanties (as a matter of fact, I posted the lyrics on the AoM forum). This makes indeed for a very manly post.
Paul
· 1 year ago
I began researching sea chanties a few years back and have had limited luck finding artists that really sing to my liking. I tend to prefer them sung without the added noise of musical instruments. I have found some very good albums on Amazon, perhaps the best being by Johnny Collins: http://www.amazon.com/Shanties-Songs-Sea-Johnny...
Perhaps the best chantie I've heard yet is Collins' version of "South Australia" on the above album. The song is so manly as sung by Collins that I believe the first time I listened I could actually feel my sperm growing chest hair.
Barnes
· 1 year ago
Obviously there are many but a few imperative ones are 1. A Sailor's Prayer A tale of men being shanghaied from drinking establishments by drinking "bad beer". "Oh Lord above, send down a dove, to cut the throats of them those blokes whose sells bad beer to sailors" "Shanghaied Dredger"is another beauty, and is also about being... well shanghaied for another reason.
caroline pond
· 1 year ago
i love that you and I both are writing about sea shanties on our post. My buddy Andrew just turned me on to you and said that we both wrote a post on sea shanties at the same time. I just learned about sea shanties this weekend. What a quink a dink. cheers. caroline
paddy get back
· 9 months ago
please please could you send me a clip of this sea shanty i love is :) it is great you will like it as well (i am mad and crazy about sea shanties AND PIRATES I LOVE THEM ) so thankyou ;) :) :-)
All Comments
It's called A Rogue's Gallery and has most of the songs mentioned in this post; one of my favorites is Coast of High Barbary, sung in this collection by Loudon Wainright III. There're some absolutely GORGEOUS songs, including one by Bono and Blood Red Roses by Sting.
Check it out, it really is something to listen to :)
This post reminded me of something I read in the American Communication Journal about "learning to Yo!", a modern equivalent of singing a shanty to create a rhythm for working as a team. ( http://acjournal.org/holdings/vol4/iss2/article... )
Really cool article. Kudos Karmazon.
There is a line that says that if you find yourself in a hopeless situation, about to be overrun, drink your canteen empty, put you pistol to your head, and you will awaken in Fiddlers Green.
Two shanty-type songs that my mates and I are fond of are "Barett's Privateers" (actually a modern song in the style of a traditional shanty)
(http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiBARTPRIV;ttBAR...)
and "Sam's Gone Away"
(http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSAMGONE.html)
What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?/Sailor’s Holiday.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Sailor
If you want to hear a fantastic rendition of the previously mentioned songs, the 97th Regimental String Band had assembled nineteen great tunes all of which are sailor songs going back as far as Queens Anne War up to the U.S Civil War (though the epic song 'Sinking of the Columbia' is noticeably missing).
I stumbled across this album/CD when the Srgt of our Reenacting Group loaned it to me for my opinion. I never gave it back. (I hope he doesn't miss it) It's great, I even play if for my three your old son.
for a sample:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/97thrsb8
I have always loved sea shanties and continue hiustoric research on them.
Doconicus
Some of my favorite albums (and yes, there are indeed songs about drinking and wenching, as well as the usual sailing ones) [in order of most fave to least]:
Blow Boys Blow by Ewan MacColl & A.L. Lloyd
Whaling & Sailing Songs by Paul Clayton
Shanties & Songs of the Sea by Johnny Collins, Dave Webber & Pete Watkinson
And just for fun, it's not really a sea shanty album, but has many buccaneer-inspired songs, Pegleg Tango by Captain Bogg & Salty. You'll hum or whistle these songs for about the next 6 months. Very tame pirate references makes this a great kids' album, too, though any fun-loving, pirate-minded adult will find much to love. "Pull Away Home" is a sweet and beautiful classic that deserves a hallowed spot in the catalog of sea-faring songs, authentic or not.
shanty, n.2, chant(e)y :
[Said to be a corruption of F. chantez imper. of chanter to sing.]
A sailor's song, esp. one sung during heavy work.
-Oxford English Dictionary
i'm a bit of a shanty/chanty nerd
also- they are very manly, but as a girl I still quite like them :D
http://www.amazon.com/Shanties-Songs-Sea-Johnny...
Perhaps the best chantie I've heard yet is Collins' version of "South Australia" on the above album. The song is so manly as sung by Collins that I believe the first time I listened I could actually feel my sperm growing chest hair.
cheers.
caroline
it is great you will like it as well
(i am mad and crazy about sea shanties AND PIRATES I LOVE THEM )
so thankyou ;) :) :-)