Art of Manliness - Latest Comments in The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

John Evans — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:16:43 -0000

I am looking for the name and lyrics for the song that has this verse:
As I went strollin' down by the rollin'
Down by the rollin sea
......
I saw three witches watchin' me
Thanks,
John

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Chris Siddall — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 22:12:03 -0000

Yup I know all of those. Wouldn't call myself a shantyman though, for that you need to know the right song for the job. Which can be tricky as lots of shanties have multiple names or different types say long-haul v capstan might have the same name but be entirely different songs. And be able to extemporize to fit the crews mood, or if you need an extra verse or two to get the job done. Being a sailor rather than a cook would help as well, I suppose. Of course the upside of being the shantyman on a commercial voyage at least, was an entitlement to an extra measure of grog. The old Grey Funnel line didn't shanty whilst working as they were trained to the bosun's call and word only.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Andre — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 16:01:19 -0000

omg, you left "The Drunken Sailor" out of the list of manliest sea chanteys (what do you do with a drunken sailor - throw him in the cabin with the captain's daughter)?? EXPLAIN YOURSELF!

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

mab foxen — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 13:56:12 -0000

As a PS to my previous comment, here is a link to his website:
https://myspace.com/johncon...

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

mab foxen — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 13:54:17 -0000

I think full credit should be given to John Conolly, who wrote Fiddlers' Green. So many people assume this is just a traditional song.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Ensign D'Aria — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 14:59:46 -0000

I really thought that you would have drunken sailor on here

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

flipper — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 16:25:33 -0000

Friggin' in the Riggin' by the Sex Pistols.

Also known as Good Ship Venus.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Shannon — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 07:15:17 -0000

In San Francisco we have a sea chantey sing at 8pm every 1st Saturday of the month aboard the Balclutha (formerly a whaling and merchant tallship) at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. All are welcome, but you should sign up about two weeks in advance, because it fills up quickly. If you forget, don't worry, just show up for the 10pm slot which is usually not full. For more information please see http://www.nps.gov/safr/his...

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Will — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:21:22 -0000

Great songs, every one! And, if you are looking for manly renditions, you should listen to the great recording of Sea Shanties by the Men of the Robert Shaw Chorale. Recorded in 1961, but available on itunes, this is great singing. Too many favorites to list them all, but start with Whup! Jamboree.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Mike — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 21:25:23 -0000

Mystic Seaport has an entire exhibit on sea chanteys. They also have a dedicated reenactment group. Since they have actual wooden tall ships at the museum there are able to demonstrate the use of shanties while using a capstan to raise and lower boats or in other shipboard chores.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Manu — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 18:11:34 -0000

I love the Dropkick Murphys song I'm Shipping Up To Boston from the movie The Departed, is that a manly sea shant?

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Hiawatha Bray — Sat, 08 May 2010 00:24:07 -0000

Yes, Martin! I just stumbled across this wonderful article and the first thought in my mind was that it has to include Barrett's Privateers, one of the greatest sea songs ever. A bit of cussin in it, but I find it irresistable nevertheless. Here it is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Martin Schilling — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:47:50 -0000

Aww, I was really hoping to see "Barret's Privateers" by Stan Rogers. He was a Canadian, he died from smoke inhalation in a fire on a plane that made an emergency landing. I've heard he was one of the first to get off the plane but went back in to help others evacuate. If that's true then perhaps he deserves a spot on one of your "manliest" lists.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

John — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:11:49 -0000

Try The Hard Tackers on my space for a good sample

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Rondog77 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:09:04 -0000

If you want a contemporary take on the shanty --Check out the indie band, The Decemberists --

esp... "The Mariner's Revenge Song" and " A Cautionary Tale"

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

paddy get back — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:23:59 -0000

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 ;) :) :-)

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

caroline pond — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:43:14 -0000

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

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Barnes — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 01:15:36 -0000

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.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Paul — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:14:18 -0000

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/Shant...

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.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

Bob Iger — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:54:45 -0000

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.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

karmazon — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 01:21:41 -0000

You can spell them either way, and I never see them spelled "chanties".

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

pirate lover — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 01:08:21 -0000

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

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

A. Perry — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:53:29 -0000

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.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

kickstand — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:39:13 -0000

Another good intro to Sea Shanties is the CD "Sea Music" by Dan Zanes and Friends.

Re: The 10 Manliest High Tide Sea Shanties | The Art of Manliness

richard — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:23:04 -0000

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.