I first heard this sung by David Littlefield at a house concert and later at a \u201cChantey Blast\u201d fund raiser for the Mystic Sea Music Festival.\u00a0 It had slipped my mind until one morning I awoke with the melody of the refrain revolving within my head and it drove me to distraction.\u00a0 After multiple inquiries through various contacts and channels, it dawned upon me one morning that I can hear Dave singing this and promptly sent a message off to him.\u00a0 In a \u2018phone call later that day he gave me the name, sang a few lyrics, and sent me down the path to learn more about its history.<\/p>\n
Gale Huntington collected it and printed it in his much lauded book \u201cSongs the Whalemen Sang\u201d, 1964.\u00a0 He recorded a version he learned from Welcome Tilton in the Folkways album \u201cFolksongs from Martha\u2019s Vinyard\u201d in 1957, which in turn was picked up by Peter Bellamy to be recorded in 1979 for \u201cBoth Sides Then\u201d, Topic Records.\u00a0 It is found again on \u201cAmerican Sea Chanteys\u201d by Forebitter \u2013 Rick Spencer being one of those guys!\u00a0 Gale had collected it from the diary of a sailor Charles Murphy of nantucket, crewmember of the whale ship DIANA out of New York in 1819\u2026 the entry for the song, called \u201cA Song on the Nantucket Ladies\u201d, is from that year, and it is supposed that Mr. Murphy had composed it<\/strong> \u2013 writing poems and songs not being an uncommon pastime for sailors long at sea.\u00a0 There are some musicologists that feel that the song is older still but to date I have not seen any evidence earlier than Charles Murphy.<\/p>\n It is an interesting song in that so many deal with the men, when ashore, meeting up with girls regardless of declared obligations at home.\u00a0 Here, on the other hand, a sailor wryly describes the girls back home taking to town in search of substitute male attention while their boys are away at sea; OK for the men to do it, but the women?\u00a0 Well, when the cat’s away…\u00a0\u00a0 A sailor working a short run on a packet ship or fishing vessel would have little to worry about but aboard a whaling vessel he would be gone from perhaps two until four years \u2013 what\u2019s a girl to do?\u00a0 And when he finally returns home, he\u2019s sure to be welcomed with assurances that she was faithfully awaiting his return \u2013 sometimes with a child of a year old playing about!<\/p>\n The below is my own interpretation of this fo’c’s’le\u00a0song (forebitter), reinserting a few verses from the original Murphy composition and then singing the Tilton refrain twice each time because it flows well.<\/p>\n Jos. Morneault<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 D\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 D<\/span><\/strong> REFRAIN: When off to sea their sweethearts go Refrain<\/p>\n Skein laces long and frills so neat Refrain<\/p>\n Far from the fields are the young men gone Refrain<\/p>\n And when those young men do come home Refrain<\/p>\n Bright false smiles they like for to wear Refrain<\/p>\n Now to conclude and end my song, Refrain 2x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I first heard this sung by David Littlefield at a house concert and later at a \u201cChantey Blast\u201d fund raiser for the Mystic Sea Music Festival.\u00a0 It had slipped my mind until one morning I awoke with the melody of the refrain revolving within my head and it drove me to distraction.\u00a0 After multiple inquiries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3315","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3315"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6184,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3315\/revisions\/6184"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAround Cape Horn the young men go
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 D<\/span><\/strong>
\nAnd when the young men go away
\nA\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 D<\/span><\/strong>
\nThen the young girls dress up neat
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0G\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0D\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 A<\/span><\/strong>
\nThey go a-cruisin’ down the stre-et<\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 A<\/span><\/strong>
\n|: Right fol day, fol-de-diddle day<\/strong><\/em>
\nD\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0D<\/span><\/strong>
\nRight fol right-o, fol-de-diddle day :|<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nThen they must have another beau
\nTo wait two years they say they can\u2019t
\nTo wait two years they say they shan\u2019t<\/p>\n
\nAnd bonnets work-ed so complete;
\nWith their painted cheeks and curl-ed hair,
\nThey think to make the new men stare.<\/p>\n
\nFar from home and all forlorn
\nWish to God they’d never been born
\nFor to go out cruisin’ round Cape Horn …<\/p>\n
\nThis is the story that they hear
\n“Welcome home, you need not fear
\nNo one has courted me, my dear.” …<\/p>\n
\nBright false bows in long false hair
\nWhite satin shoe with a silver bow
\nTake those young men all in tow …<\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s women tells me I am wrong
\nBut if by chance they find it\u2019s right
\nThey may sing it from morn till night.<\/p>\n