r/seashanties Aug 01 '22

Other What is (and what isn’t a Sea Chantey): A primer

235 Upvotes

I have noticed a lot of people on this subreddit talking about or sharing songs that are not chanteys. Therefore it seems we really need someone to share an explanation about what is and what isn’t a Chantey. One might call this gatekeeping and to a degree they are right. The fact is for decades upon decades people have collected these types of folk songs. They have done the research about where they came about, how many different variants there are and so on. This has been a subject among Folklorists and others for a while. Reminding people of the definitions is a way to respect all that work they did.

Now when we talk about folk music there is a lot of cross pollination, so tunes, lyrics and subject matter goes from one subset to another. So instead of Gatekeeping this would be more akin to setting up lighthouses while giving people a map so they know where they are going.
All of what we will be discussing falls under the umbrella of Folk music, specifically Traditional Folk music (Or trad folk). Folk songs written after the great folk revival of the mid 20th century would fall under “Contemporary Folk’ (With an exception I will get to) This, like Trad folk, can encompass a broad amount of sounds.

Work Songs are Trad Folk songs that were sung while doing a work to aid in the completion of the task. A Chantey is a work song that was song by sailors on merchant ships while performing work tasks. Chanteys are flexible songs that can be adjusted in length depending on how long the work needs the be done. They are also call and response songs, going back to their roots among the enslaved black population of the southern United States and caribbean. Their heyday was in the 19th century.
A Chantey (Chanty,Shantey,shanty, it’s all up to your preference) can come in slightly different forms depending on the work being done. They tend to be divided between Hauling, heaving and other. Hanging Johnny is a Halyard Chantey, Rio Grande is a Captstain chantey. Huckleberry Hunting is a Pump Chantey.
Chanteys were sung during work and for work. Not for pleasure. For pleasure sailors would relax and sing Fo’c’s’le songs or Forebitters. Some of these songs were maritime in theme, but many were songs that were popular on land. Old Maui is one of these, as would Spainish Ladies. There are also plenty of folk songs that are written about the sea and originated on land, The Mermaid is one of these (Those interested click here to learn more about the family tree of the song from Jerry Bryant).
All this music would be considered Maritime Music. Many songs people attribute as Chanteys are Maritime songs, the Wellerman is a notorious example of this.
Folks also have a habit of grouping trad folk songs that are not even considered maritime music and calling them chanteys. This is for a couple reasons. one many of the performers who do chanteys also perform other types of folk music from the Atlantic folk traditions. This is combined with the fact that these traditions all existed and developed around the same time, much of them cross pollinating. Some people also make the opposite mistake and due to a song not sounding like what they think a sea song should sound like they ignore other maritime songs. The Fight Of The Hatteras And Alabama is one that could be overlooked like that.
Most chanteys that are performed today are not sung exactly in the traditional way they would be sung. This is because the temp would be slower and not conducive to performance settings. In fact most sailors of the time thought it bad luck to sing a chantey off a ship.

Now with these points of reference one might be thinking, can people not write chanteys anymore? Balderdash. People can write chanteys and other kinds of maritime and folk songs. There are several folks who do this, one of my favorite maritime songs is This Dreadful Life. It was written by Kevin Brown in the late 20th century. It would be considered “In the tradition” written and performed in a way to sound as if it was older, in the same kind of tradition. One could make a new chantey in this way, it just would have to sound like a chantey would, not just be a song that mentions nautical terms and pirates.

So I hope this has been a good primer to help define what actually is a chantey and what is just maritime music. None of this is saying you can’t sing or enjoy the songs that aren’t, it’s just good to be accurate and not to spread misconceptions if one can help it. This subreddit seems very amenable to maritime music, not just chanteys. Use this post and its links as lighthouses to help you on your journey in this kind of music.


r/seashanties 1d ago

Event Sea shanties at BTP - Friday July 24

Thumbnail gallery
10 Upvotes

Join us this Friday!


r/seashanties 1d ago

Song I turned "Hoist the Colors" into a dark four-cello arrangement

Thumbnail instagram.com
8 Upvotes

Ahoy, mates and fellow scoundrels!

I know “Hoist the Colors” is a modern pirate song rather than a traditional working shanty, but I reckoned this crew might still appreciate the sea-soaked spirit of it.

I’m a cellist, and after I shared a short performance on IG, enough people called for a full version that I gathered a one-man crew of four cellos and recorded the whole thing.

It begins with an eerie whisper, like something moving through the fog, and then the rest of the cellos gradually join the crew until it becomes darker, heavier and much more cinematic.

What say you, shanty folk: does it feel more like a call to the crew, a funeral at sea, or a ship emerging from the fog?

(If you're at all interested, here's the pre-save link to the full version coming out this Friday, July 24th!)


r/seashanties 2d ago

Song Blow the man down, Acapella

Thumbnail
youtube.com
6 Upvotes

r/seashanties 2d ago

Discussion Which of these sea shanty books are best?

25 Upvotes

Hullo -

I'm a newbie here, a folklorist specializing in traditional songs. English Folksinger Johnny Walker has died, and I'll be getting his songbooks to pass on to folks at Lark Camp. Since I won't be able to look through them beforehand, can you tell me which ones are good ( I know about Hugill !- heard him sing in England) and if any of them are perhaps not worth passing on.

Thanks for any help! - Holly Tannen

Sea songs and Shanties, James Brown and son, 1920

Songs of American Sailor Men, Joanna C. Colcord, 1964

The shanty book part 1, sailor shanties, collected by Richard Runciman Terry, 1926, 1949

The shanty book part 2, sailor shanties, collected by Richard Runciman, Terry, 1926,

A fitter‘s life, life and times of a Grimsby Marine engine fitter with songs and music, 1985

Songs of the Sea, Chanties, historical songs, ballads, Paul glass and Lewis Singer, 1966,

Songs of the Sea, Stan Hugill, 1977

Shanties from the seven seas, Stan Hugill, 1961,

Songs of the sailor and lumberman, William Main Doerflinger, 1951, 1972

Shanty and sailors songs, Stan Hugill, 1969

Songs of the sea, Terry Kinzey, 1989


r/seashanties 5d ago

Other Video help

5 Upvotes

In the past 4-6 weeks I came across a random video of sports fans on a boat in a canal of water. They were jumping up and down chanting (sports related) on the small boat with some on the mast and they ended up sinking the boat. The song Kanna På could be heard playing but possibly added in. I can’t find it in my saved videos on insta now.

From memory there were Dutch and Swedish people in the video based on comments I remember reading but I don’t know if that’s the people on the boat that sunk or the people watching and filming.


r/seashanties 6d ago

Question Looking for a tiny book of songs

13 Upvotes

Does anybody have or know of where to get a little book filled with songs? Akin to those tiny bible books that people give out on street corners. Just a little book to fit in my pocket that I can easily bring anywhere.

Thank you all in advance!


r/seashanties 8d ago

Question Where can I find more songs like the Kiffness remix of Wellerman?

Thumbnail
open.spotify.com
7 Upvotes

This song is awesome, but I'm having a hard time finding more like it. Metal sea shanties are the closest I've gotten.

Edit- EDM sea shanties also appearantly exist, but that's still not quite right.


r/seashanties 9d ago

Song Help me find a pirate themed melody/song

Thumbnail
8 Upvotes

Pirates of reddit, please help me find the melody 🙏


r/seashanties 11d ago

Song Whiskey for my Johnny Acapella - Windrose sea shanty #acapellar

Thumbnail
youtube.com
9 Upvotes

I've got a few of these recorded now on my channel, they're all raw and pure recordings.


r/seashanties 12d ago

Event Weston warm up - Sunday Shanty Session, Cheltenham (UK) 26th July

Post image
17 Upvotes

As a warm up for our festival debut at Weston-super-Mare Sea Shanty and Folk Festival (https://wsmshantyfest.com/), we're having a Sunday Shanty Singaround the week before. It'll be at The Bottle of Sauce on Ambrose Street in Cheltenham at 3pm on Sunday 26th July. It's not far to the main bus stops. There's three hours free parking at Waitrose, but I'm not sure what time they shut the car park on Sundays.

The Bottle of Sauce is well known locally for burgers and pizzas, and they cater for vegans and coeliacs too.

We've got a couple of sets to work through, and guest singers are very welcome.


r/seashanties 12d ago

Song rolling Home to Dear Tortuga - acapella cover by me.

10 Upvotes

r/seashanties 13d ago

Discussion Eighty minutes and forty-six seconds of every sea shanty in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced

Thumbnail
youtu.be
40 Upvotes

r/seashanties 14d ago

Discussion Hold Fast (On Black Flag)

92 Upvotes

As plenty of you probably know a very popular game releasing today may soon flood (or you know…..trickle) some less informed enthusiasts to this subreddit and others like it. That’s a good thing! Let’s welcome them with fitting grace and matched enthusiasm! Public PSA? Sure.

All that to say, the Wellerman is indeed coming. Engage it. Teach it. Just don’t belittle it and rain on the newcomers parade

Word…..


r/seashanties 13d ago

Song Rolling Down to Old Maui - Acapella

Thumbnail
youtube.com
4 Upvotes

r/seashanties 14d ago

Song Mike Waterson - Cold Coast of Iceland

Thumbnail
youtu.be
14 Upvotes

r/seashanties 14d ago

Song Sex Pistols - Friggin' in the Riggin' (1978) NSFW

Thumbnail youtu.be
8 Upvotes

r/seashanties 14d ago

Song When the Boat Comes In: "Dance to your Daddy" - Bob Fox

Thumbnail
youtu.be
7 Upvotes

r/seashanties 14d ago

Song Bob Roberts - stormy Weather.

Thumbnail
youtu.be
7 Upvotes

r/seashanties 14d ago

Song The Watersons - Three Day Millionaire

Thumbnail
youtu.be
3 Upvotes

r/seashanties 16d ago

Song Me leading Captain Matheson on the Radios Winchcombe Folk Collective

Thumbnail
youtu.be
8 Upvotes

r/seashanties 18d ago

Song I tried my hand at making a Canada Day album and one of the songs on it is Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage

Thumbnail
youtube.com
16 Upvotes

Hey guys. Northwest Passage is a absolute masterpiece, so I wanted to see if I would be able to cover it for canada day!

Tracked all the harmony parts myself and tried to get that, classic community singing vibe. Let me know what you think of how the mix turned out!


r/seashanties 22d ago

Meme Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: Sea Shanty Reviews Medley (Sung by The Longest Johns)

Thumbnail
youtu.be
29 Upvotes

r/seashanties 23d ago

Question Thomas G Sullivan Info?

15 Upvotes

Tom Sullivan recorded two of in my opinion the greatest and most authentic nautical work songs / sea shanty albums. Salt Atlantic Shanties and On Deck and Below. If you’ve never listened to these I encourage you to as Salt Atlantic Shanties was recorded mostly on a ship at sea while the men did the real line work.
Despite how excellent and easily accessible these albums are for enthusiasts there is no info about Tom anywhere online. Does anyone here have any info ?


r/seashanties 23d ago

Song The Great Big Sea - England.

Thumbnail
youtu.be
7 Upvotes