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Post by BrianWilliams on Feb 15, 2007 0:48:44 GMT -8
"Yarmouth Castle" is on the 1969 Sunday Concert LP; it's an early Lightfoot song that seems to be quite forgotten now. A shame - Lightfoot's passion in words and delivery are superb. The true Yarmouth Castle 1965 story is outlined on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Yarmouth_CastleStan Rogers! Yeah, Stan Rogers wrote and performed the very best modern Canadian boat songs. In addition to the wonderful "Jeannie C" and "Mary Ellen Carter" Stan gave us the touching, sad "Tiny Fish For Japan" about seining Lake Erie for smelt. -and his marvellous "Fogarty's Cove" was a story of hard-scrabble fishing life in 1970's Nova Scotia. Maybe overlooked is Rogers' comic "Athens Queen": We were drinking down to Reedy's house When first we heard the blow It seemed to come from Ripper Rock So boldly forth to go And sure enough the rusty tub Could just be barely seen As her stern was high up in the air We made out Athens Queen O, the lovely Athens Queen Me boys I must remind you There's a bottle left inside So let us go and have a few And wait until low tide And if the sea's not claimed her When the glasses are licked clean We will then set forth some dories lads And see what may be seen On the lovely Athens Queen Some songs and old tall stories then Came out to pass the time Nor could a single bottle Keep us all until low tide And so it was before we left The house we were at sea So we scarcely can remember How we made the Athens Queen O, the lovely Athens Queen O the waves inside me belly Were as high as those outside And though I'm never seasick I lost dinner overside T'was well there was no crew to save For we'd have scared 'em green We could scarcely keep ourselves From falling off the Athens Queen O, the lovely Athens Queen Well Reedy goes straight down below And comes up with a cow Hello I said now what would you Be wantin' with that now You'll never take the cow home In a dory on such sea Well me friend he says I've always fancied Fresh cream in me tea For the lovely Athens Queen I headed for the galley then Cause I was rather dry And glad I was to get there quick For what should I spy O what a shame it would have been For to lose it all at sea Forty cases of the best Napolean Brandy ever seen On the lovely Athens Queen I loaded twenty cases boys Then headed for the shore Unloaded them as quick as that And then pulled back for more Smith was pullin' for the shore But he could scarce be seen Under near two hundred chickens And a leather couch of green From the lovely Athens Queen So here's to all good salvagers Likewise to Ripper Rock And to Napolean brandy of which Now we have much stock We eat a lot of chicken And sit on a couch of green And we wait for Ripper Rock To claim another Athens Queen.
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Post by BrianWilliams on Feb 15, 2007 0:58:24 GMT -8
But! Here is my favourite unrecorded Stan Rogers seagoing song. It is performed on the Stan Rogers tribute CD by Les Méchant Maquereaux.
Acadian Saturday Night:
Uncle Emile he's gone now nearly ten days, He tol' his wife's he's gone for the fishing, But in the waters off Saint-Pierre and Miquelon Isles, The fish come in bottles of gold; If the Anne-Marie floats and the Mounties stay blind, He'll be back before the moon is rising, With a very fine catch all safe in the hold, Thirty cases of Trinidad Light For Acadian Saturday night.
Emmeline Comeau works the general store, Papa says she's good for the custom, She's got eyes like fire and hair past her shoulders, As shiny black as ant'racite coal; You can see her Sunday morning on the St Phillipe road, Her mother close behind like a dragon, But her mama doesn't know what she does behind the hall, Away from the music and lights On Acadian Saturday night.
Oh - Don't the fiddles make you roll, Till your heart she pounds like a hammer; There's a fat lady beating her piano like a drum, And everybody's higher than a kite On Acadian Saturday night.
Granpa says it was better in his day, The mounties stayed away from the parties, And he didn't mind a fight when the spirits got high, (You could always throw them out in the snow) And the rum was better and it came in bigger bottles, And the revenue cutters were slow, Still, the old Anne-Marie has wings on the water, And there's nothing like Trinidad Light On Acadian Saturday night.
Oh - Don't the fiddles make you roll, Till your heart she pounds like a hammer; There's a fat lady beating her piano like a drum, And everybody's higher than a kite On Acadian Saturday night.
Oh - Don't the fiddles make you roll, Till your heart she pounds like a hammer; There's a fat lady beating her piano like a drum, And everybody's higher than a kite On Acadian Saturday night.
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Post by BrianWilliams on Feb 15, 2007 2:07:06 GMT -8
I'll refrain from another dozen screenloads of Stan Rogers' lyrics.
Fans of Stan Rogers know his songs, and for newcomers: look for "Home In Halifax" a concert CD recorded shortly before his untimely 1983 death.
The two live CDs of the Stan Rogers Tribute Concert may be out of print. A damn shame, because many of Canada's best musicians joined in a monumental concert at Rebecca Cohen Hall for a four-hour re-creation of Stan's music.
Last note: Rogers was fierce Canadian nationalist, and he wrote a couple of boat songs on the subject. Accurate and funny was "Barrett's Privateers" about a Halifax entrepreneur in 1778 who shipped a crew on his leaky schooner -
"Under a flag of marque from the king ... we'd fire no guns, shed no tears."
But the Antelope was a shabby ship that chased an American into the Caribbean, took one shot and sank.
More inspiring was "The Nancy". Truly told, Nancy was a Canadian working schooner on Lake St Clair. Comandeered by a retreating British colonel in 1813, Nancy's Canadian skipper and crew refused to give up their ship to an American shore party.
"Surrender? Hell, you say. We sent some shot, and 9 men made 50 bravely run away. The powder in their hair that day was powder sent their way By poor and ragged sailormen - aboard the Nancy"
In the last three years of his short life, Rogers was working on a national song cycle. He'd finished "From Fresh Water" (the Great Lakes) and "Northwest Passage" (which began a surprising insight of the Canadian west, rivalling Ian Tyson's best).
I wish he could have lived to do some work on BC's coast.
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D'Elete BC in NJ
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Feb 15, 2007 6:57:42 GMT -8
It is interesting, too, that the fire on the Yarmouth Castle caused the institution of SOLAS. Gives an even deeper meaning to the song.
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D'Elete BC in NJ
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Feb 15, 2007 9:33:34 GMT -8
Not a song but a poem dedicated to a ship wreck. The Wreck of the Deutschland Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89) To the happy memory of five Franciscan Nuns exiles by the Falk Laws drowned between midnight and morning of Dec. 7th. 1875I will only post the link to the website where it can be found as it is 35 stanzas and 280 lines long! www.bartleby.com/122/4.html
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D'Elete BC in NJ
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Feb 15, 2007 9:54:30 GMT -8
And something from the Estonia by a alt rock British band called Marillion. Maybe cascade can comment? Estonia Feeling you shake Feel your heart break Thinking if only, if only, if only, if only And the salt water runs Through your veins and your bones Telling you no not this way, not this way, not this way And you would give anything Give up everything Offer your life blood away For yesterday No one leaves you When you live in their heart and mind And no one dies They just move to the other side When we're gone Watch the world simply carry on We live on laughing and in no pain We'll stay and be happy With those who have loved us today Finding the answer It's a human obsession But you might as well talk to the stones and the trees and the sea 'Cause nobody knows And so few can see There's only beauty and caring and truth beyond darkness No one leaves you When you live in their heart and mind And no one dies They just move to the other side When we're gone Watch the world simply carry on We live on laughing and in no pain We'll stay and be happy With those who have loved us today And we won't understand your grief Because time is illusion As this watery world spins around This timeless sun Will dry your eyes And calm your mind No one leaves you When you live in their heart and mind And no one dies They just move to the other side When we're gone Watch the world simply carry on It's okay, we will stay and be happy Stay and be happy With those who have loved us today
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Post by Dane on Feb 15, 2007 23:53:48 GMT -8
From Her Majesty's Most Loyal Canadian Navy:
HEART OF OAK Composed by Dr. William Boyce, MBE
Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer, To add something more to this wonderful year; To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves, For who are as free as the sons of the waves?
CHORUS
Heart of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men, we always are ready; Steady, boys, steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.
We ne'er see our foes but we wish them to stay, They never see us but they wish us away; If they run, why we follow, and run them ashore, And if they won't fight us, we cannot do more.
CHORUS
They swear they'll invade us, these terrible foes, They frighten our women, our children and beaus, But should their flat bottoms in darkness get o'er, Still Britons they'll find to receive them on shore.
CHORUS
Britannia triumphant, her ships sweep the sea, Her standard is Justice -- her watchword, 'be free.' Then cheer up, my lads, with one heart let us sing, Our soldiers, our sailors, our statesmen, and king.
CHORUS
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Post by BrianWilliams on Feb 17, 2007 3:27:33 GMT -8
"Hearts Of Oak"
Thanks for the words, Dane. I was an RCN Sea Cadet decades ago, and our watch came to attention for a scratchy band recording of Hearts Of Oak every Tuesday evening.
Years later, HMS Kent visited Vancouver. Jeannie and I waited to go on board with many other civilian vistors, but we were held back while PM Brian Mulroney and other dignitaries had their tour.
The bosun's pipe squealed, and Kent's small band played Hearts Of Oak on the foredeck as the PM stepped on deck.
I'm not a fan of Myron Baloney, but I was immensely proud of the dignity shown. The PM stopped at the top step and stood at stiff attention as Hearts Of Oak played.
The rousing tune echoed off the North Vancouver mountains, across blue Burrard Inlet. Kent had her White Ensign flying at the stern and the courtesy Maple Leaf flag at the masthead.
A good morning.
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Post by BrianWilliams on Feb 17, 2007 4:05:44 GMT -8
Great thanks, BCinNJ.
I didn't know there was a song about the Estonia tragedy.
MV Estonia's sinking is of special interest to me; not for personal reasons, but because it was a minor structural failure that grew to be a disaster; and worse, MV Estonia's crew were unorganized and untrained.
Over 800 people died in a shallow European sea.
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Post by BrianWilliams on Feb 17, 2007 4:55:26 GMT -8
Stan Rogers wrote simple truths so well:
From Make-And-Break Harbour-
"Foreign trawlers go by now With their long seeing eyes Taking much where we seldom take any..."
And about one-time whaling Atlantic folks working in Alberta's oil patch (Free In The Harbour) -
"Who once did pursue them as oil from the sea; Now they're Calgary roughnecks from Hermitage Bay, Where the whales make free in the harbour."
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D'Elete BC in NJ
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Feb 17, 2007 5:22:55 GMT -8
Thanks to your link to the SS Yarmouth Castle on Wikipedia and my insatiable curiosity, I found other vessels lost due to circumstances similar to the Estonia. Wikipedia has an extensive list of passenger ships disasters at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disasters#Ship_and_ferry_disastersThe following incidents are the ones I refer to. In 1966, the Greek ferry SS Heraklion was lost at sea apparently due to lashing chains breaking free on a truck. It is theorized that the truck careened around the deck until finally smashing the side loading door from its mounting, thereby letting the sea in. In 1987, it was the failure of the crew to secure the bow doors coupled with the captain's failure to remove ballast water used to lower the ship during unloading and loading that contributed to the foundering of the M/V Herald of Free Enterprise. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Heraklionen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herald_of_Free_Enterprise
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Post by Low Light Mike on Feb 17, 2007 10:23:21 GMT -8
Re Brian Williams' quote of I was in Sea Cadet band at RCSCC Amphion, and 'Hearts of Oak' was in our repertoire. We also played 'Ship Ahoy' and even played 'Anchors Aweigh'. At band competition, almost every other SeaCadet band played Hearts of Oak too. I suppose that's because it's easy to play and easy to learn for new trumpet players.
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Post by Barnacle on Feb 18, 2007 13:37:45 GMT -8
Funny that Hearts of Oak should crop up in conversation... I'm working my way through Sir Patrick O'Brian's Lucky Jack Aubrey novels again, much to the annoyance of my shipmates (I tend to mutter about flogging a lot while reading them).
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Post by BrianWilliams on Feb 19, 2007 20:44:01 GMT -8
Hearts Of Oak is the traditional march of the Royal Navy and RCN, as Anchors Aweigh is for the US Navy.
Hearts Of Oak is grand tune, and its words recall the days of Nelson's "wooden walls" - But it also reminds me of the era of impressment. Some of those Jack Tars weren't so jolly.
Don't blame Capt. Bligh of HMS Bounty ... by all true accounts Bligh was an excellent seaman and compassionate commander, like Cook and Vancouver.
The fleet mutinies of 1797 at Spithead and Nore may have coloured the Nordhoff and Hall novel "Mutiny On The Bounty" with truly horrific details of Royal Navy warship conditions, unrelated to the 1787-89 voyage of HMS Bounty.
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Post by queenofcowichan on Feb 19, 2007 21:03:56 GMT -8
ah, The good old days of cadets. I miss it been up at H.M.C.S Quadra In the Summer. One of the most spectatular locations for a Cadet camp you could ask for out in the Comox Harbour. There is nothing like marching around the Parade square to the tune of Heart of Oak, I have never lost the theme to that song, its always good to hear it.
Rcscc Esquimalt Parksville Bc 1986-1990
Rcscc Bicknell Richmond BC 1990
Basic Sail June-August 1990 HMCS Quadra Comox BC I do not miss those Jetty jumps though.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Feb 22, 2007 18:58:54 GMT -8
from Monty Python. ==========================
It's fun to charter an accountant And sail the wide accountancy, To find, explore the funds offshore And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy!
It can be mainly in insurance. We'll up your premium semi-annually. It's all tax deductible. We're fairly incorruptible, We're sailing on the wide accountancy!
======================
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Post by Dane on Feb 22, 2007 19:47:16 GMT -8
ah, The good old days of cadets. I miss it been up at H.M.C.S Quadra In the Summer. I'll be aboard HMCS QUADRA this summer (I think)
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Post by Dane on Feb 22, 2007 19:51:51 GMT -8
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Post by SS San Mateo on Mar 3, 2007 20:53:37 GMT -8
I don't know if this is exactly a nautical-themed song. "Come Sail Away" by Styx: Im sailing away, set an open course for the virgin sea Ive got to be free, free to face the life thats ahead of me On board, Im the captain, so climb aboard Well search for tomorrow on every shore And Ill try, oh lord, Ill try to carry on I look to the sea, reflections in the waves spark my memory Some happy, some sad I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had We live happily forever, so the story goes But somehow we missed out on that pot of gold But well try best that we can to carry on A gathering of angels appeared above my head They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said They said come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me I thought that they were angels, but to my surprise They climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies Singing come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me
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Post by Low Light Mike on May 3, 2008 8:29:59 GMT -8
I'm listening to Chris DeBurgh's "Don't pay the ferryman" as I write this. Here's a link to the music video:
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Post by BreannaF on May 3, 2008 8:57:39 GMT -8
from Monty Python. ========================== It's fun to charter an accountant And sail the wide accountancy.... See! Absolute proof that accountancy can be exciting! Arrrrrrrrr, matey! I'm listening to Chris DeBurgh's "Don't pay the ferryman" as I write this. Sage advice for anyone crossing The River Styx / The Salish Sea / the Georgia Strait on a BC Ferry: Don't pay the Ferryman Don't even set the price Til he gets you to the other side....
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Post by Low Light Mike on Dec 19, 2008 18:40:40 GMT -8
Greetings all, I'm in a playful mood....
Has anyone heard Chris DeBurgh's song "Don't Pay The Ferryman"? It's an old number from around 1983, but it's a cool song for Ferries. You can find the video on You Tube.
What are other good songs? I'd like to prepare a CD of the "best Ferry or Boat songs". I have a few to start with...
"Six months in a leaky boat" - Split Enz (1982)
"Smoke on the Water" - Deep Purple, Mesozoic Era
"Good Vibrations" (dedicated to the new Coastal class)
"Cool Change" - Little River Band, 1980 I think
"Sailing" - Chris Cross, 1980?
"Come Sail Away" - Styx 1978
"Ferry On the Mersey"- Dave Clark 5 or some other band of that era???
Ok....let er rip....other songs?
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Post by Starsteward on Dec 19, 2008 20:35:08 GMT -8
The Irish Rovers have a cute little ditty called "Sydney Ferry Boats" Being a bit 'impaired' makes this song even more fun
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Post by Mill Bay on Dec 19, 2008 23:07:20 GMT -8
How 'bout 'Strike the Bell'?
I think Nick will like this one... full of nautical terms, it is.
STRIKE THE BELL
Up on the poop deck and walking about, There is the second mate so steady and so stout; What he is a-thinkin' of he doesn't know himself And we wish that he would hurry up and strike, strike the bell.
Chorus Strike the bell second mate, let us go below; Look well to windward you can see it's gonna blow; Look at the glass, you can see it has fell, Oh we wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell.
Down on the main deck and workin' at the pumps, There is the larboard watch just longing for their bunks; Look out to windward, you can see a great swell, And we wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell
CHORUS
Forward on the forecastle head and keepin' sharp lookout, There is Johnny standin', a-longin' fer to shout, Lights' a-burnin' bright sir and everything is well, And he's wishin' that the second mate would strike, strike the bell.
CHORUS
Aft at the wheelhouse old Anderson stands, Graspin' at the helm with his frostbitten hands, Lookin' at the compass through the course is clear as hell And he's wishin' that the second mate would strike, strike the bell.
CHORUS
Aft on the quarter deck our gallant captain stands, Lookin' out to windward with a spyglass in his hand, What he is a-thinkin' of we know very well, He's thinkin' more of shortenin' sail than strikin' the bell.
CHORUS
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2008 0:53:57 GMT -8
Thanks Flugel, I didn't even see this one. I sometimes do the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald when I play out. Awesome stuff here, I'm going to make a CD for my trip home for Christmas.
Take care!
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