One of the joys in life is to sit in a fine pub, throw your head back, and sing your cares away – at least until tomorrow.  Chanteys are sung as a call-and-response style that you can learn in the moment, and other songs we present either provide wonderful choruses or tell a tale or story for your enjoyment.  When we perform, it really is not a spectator sport but rather a participation event; don’t be shy, and the more you sing from deep within, throwing in your voice with the melody or spontaneous harmonies, the more you’ll get out of an evening with us!  While you really don’t need to have song lyrics in hand to sing along, I know that some people feel more comfortable at least perusing them from time to time.

PLEASE NOTE: We take pains to keep to the style and tradition of this early music with instruments and presentation – not turn it into rock n’ roll like so many imitations do in order to “bring it into the modern age”; a definite miss on the integrity and point of this music.  However we also get that we need to present appropriately to the venue we’re in; while we each perform in a more “coffee-house” and “house concert” setting from time to time which allows for more story-telling of the music and less noise to sing over, when we’re in a pub or tavern we perform just like any pub or tavern in history would have us.

Here I’ll provide lyrics and background information on the various songs we sing. So if you have a specific song you might like to see addressed, let me know here.  If you have a need for the chords or melody, let me know that as well and I’ll send it separately… Each of us might perform each song differently and in a different key when we lead it, so I often don’t bother to post one set of chords over another.

• When Jones’ Ale Was New

• A Drop of Nelson’s Blood
• A Man of War Song
• A Pint of Old Peculier
• A Pint Of Plain
• A-Rovin’
• Abel Snow
• According to the Act
• Alabama John Cherokee
• All For Me Grog
• Ambletown (Home Dearie Home)
• An Old Man Came Courting Me
• Anchors Aweigh
• And When They Dance
• And A Begging I Will Go
• Around Cape Horn
• At The Boarding House
• Away Rio
• Away With Rum, or, The Song of the Temperance Union
• The Banks of Newfoundland
• The Barley Mow
• Barnacle Bill The Sailor
• Barrett’s Privateers
• The Bay of Biscay-O!
• Bear Away, Yankee
• Bide Awhile
• Black Velvet Band
• Blackthorne’s Chantey
• Blood Red Roses
• Blow the Man Down
• Bluenose
• Boney Was A Warrior
• Bonnie Banks of Claudy
• Bonnie Lass of Fyvie-O
• Boozin’
• The Brandy Tree
• Bully in the Alley
• Cape Cod Girls
• Captain Kidd
• The Chandler’s Wife
• Chastity Belt
• Chaunticleer
• Chicken on a Raft
• The Coachman
• Cod Liver Oil
• Come By The Hills
• Coming ’round the Mountain
• Congo River
• Connecticut River Shad
• Courtin’ in the Kitchen
• The Crayfish
• Crooked Jack
• Cruisin’ Round Yarmouth
• De Boatman Dance
• The Diamond
• The Dogs Were Having A Party
• Donald, Where’s Yer Troosers??
• Doodle Let Me Go
• Do Me Ama
• Do You Love An Apple
• The Dreadnaught
• Drink Good Ale (The Stixwould Harvest Song)
• Drink Today
• Drive Sorrows Away
• The Drovers
• Drunken Sailor
• The East Indiaman
• Eat Bertha’s Mussels
• The Ebenezer
• Eight Bells
• Emma, Emma
• The E-RI-E Canal
• Fare Thee Well, Enniskillen
• Farewell to Carlingford
• Farewell to Nova Scotia
• The Farmer’s Toast or Godspeed the Plough
• The Farmington Canal Song
• Fathom the Bowl
• The Ferryman (The Liffey Ferry)
• Fiddler’s Green
• Fields of Athenry
• Finnegan’s Wake
• Fire Down Below
• Four Pounds A Day
• German Clockwinder
• The Gloucestershire Wassail
• Going Home Song
• Golden, Golden
• Good Ale
• The Goodnight Song
• Grey Funnel Line
• Hal An Tow
• Hallelujah I’m a Bum
• The Happy Birthday Set
• Haul Away Joe
• Haul on the Bowline
• Have Some Madeira, M’Dear
• Heave Away My Johnny
• The Herring Song (What do you do with a herring’s head?)
• High Germany
• The Hog-Eyed Man
• The Holy Ground
• Homeward Bound
• House Carpenter
• I Came To A Western Island
• If I Was A Blackbird – Paul Elliott version.
• If I Was A Blackbird – Rick Spencer version.
• I Like Beer
• I Like To Rise
• I Wish I Was Single Again
• I Wish They’d Do It Now
• Isle Au Haut
• It’s A Long Way To Tipperary
• Jack Tar
• James Drown
• January Man
• John Kanaka
• Jolly Roving Tar, or Get Up Jack John Sit Down
• Johnny Come Down to Hilo – version bawdy
• Katie’s Song
• Knocking Nellie
• The Last Shanty (A Sailor Ain’t A Sailor)
• The Last Thing On My Mind
• Leather Wing Bat
• Leaving of Liverpool
• Let The Good Times Ring
• Let Your Back And Sides Go Bare
• Life of a Leaf
• Liverpool Lou
• Liverpool Nights
• Lowlands, Lowlands, Low
• Maggie May
• Maid From Amsterdam
• Maid on the Shore
• Make and Break Harbour
• The Mallard
• The Man That Waters The Workers’ Beer
• The Marco Polo
• Marie’s Wedding
• Martin Said To His Man
• Mary Ellen Carter
• Mary Mac
• The Mermaid
• The Merman
• Merry Little Hop
• The Miller of Dee
• Mingulay Boat Song
• Miss Bailey’s Ghost
• Mist Covered Mountains of Home
• Monday Night at the Old Griswold Inn
• Morning Glory
• Mrs. McGrath
• My Husband’s a Mason
• My Jolly Sailor Bold
• My Lady From Bendigo
• Nancy Whiskey
• New York Girls
• The Nightingale
• Nine Times a Night
• No Deep
• North Sea Holes
• Oggie Man
• Ol King Cole
• Old Dunn Cow
• Old Molasses Rum
• The Old Maid in the Garrett
• Old Maui
• Old Moke Picking on a Banjo
• Old Pendle
• The Old Rose and Crown
• One More Day
• The Parting Glass (Good Night and Joy Be With You)
• Pay Me
• Peggy Gordon
• Pleasant and Delightful
• Poverty Knock
• Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth
• Pub With No Beer
• Quand Le Soleil
• Queer Bungle Rye
• The Reach
• Reuben Ranzo
• River Lea
• Roll Down
• Rolling Down The Bay To Julianna
• Rolling Down The River
• Rolling Home
• Roll the Ol’ Chariot
• The Rosabella
• Rout to the Blues
• Running Down To Cuba
• Sail Away Ladies
• A Sailor Ain’t A Sailor
• The Sailor Hates the Rain
• Sally Brown
• Sally Free and Easy
• Sam’s Gone Away
• Santianno
• The Seamen’s Hymn
• The Shaver
• Sheepshearing’s Over
• Shine Your Buttons With Brasso
• Shoals of Herring
• Shores of Botany Bay
• Shove Around the Jug
• Skipper Jan Rebec
• South Australia
• Spanish Ladies
• Star of the County Down
• Stixwould Harvest Song (Drink Good Ale!)
• Strike The Bell
• This Dreadful Life I’m Living
• Three Drunken Maidens
• Three Jolly Coachmen
• Three Jolly Fishermen
• Time Ashore Is Over
• Tuppence On The Rope
• Wanderer
• We Were Drunk Last Night
• Where Am I To Go
• Whiskey in the Jar
• Whup Jamboree
• The Wild Rover
  • The Hard Drinker
• Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go
• Windmills
• Windy Ol’ Weather
• Winds of Morning
• Work of the Weavers
• Yangtze River Chantey
• Yankee Whalermen
• Yarmouth Town
• Ye Mariners All