{"id":335,"date":"2013-07-03T12:07:46","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T16:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=335"},"modified":"2022-06-07T18:04:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T22:04:00","slug":"blood-red-roses","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=335","title":{"rendered":"Blood Red Roses"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLOOD RED ROSES\u00a0\u00a0is a halyard chantey sometimes called \u201cBunch o\u2019 Roses\u201d or some variant.\u00a0 There has been much speculation as to just what the \u201cblood red roses\u201d were as well as the \u201cpinks and posies\u201d; one source speculates that it is an imagery of the bubbling blood of a dying whale as they hauled the kill alongside.\u00a0 Another suggests that the sailors were making sport of the Marines on board as they aided in hauling the kill, but one would never find Royal Marines working a whaling ship so that\u2019s out.\u00a0 Stan Hugill wrote that this song was popular not only in Liverpool ships but also among Yankee ships and that it likely derived from an English song regarding Napoleon and British soldiers, or \u201credcoats\u201d.\u00a0 One does find tunes and songs relating to Napoleon and the \u201cBonny Bunch of Roses O\u201d, but but the evidence for\u00a0this<\/em> song is not there and on a personal note I suspect that the point of the song is a bit grittier\u2026 I have found in numerous references dating to the 18th<\/sup> and early 19th<\/sup> century of men being taunted in military and maritime situations by either being called out as \u201cwhores\u201d and \u201cwhoresons\u201d and variants, or as \u201cpansies\u201d, \u201cpinks\u201d, \u201cposies\u201d, and even \u201croses\u201d\u2026 not unlike experienced soldiers and sailors of recent days taunting \u201cgreen\u201d recruits.\u00a0 So my theory<\/em> is that as the whole crew did the work, they still found humour in taunting the \u201cgreen\u201d or inexperienced hands.\u00a0 All circumstantial, I freely admit, but it still seems the best fit\u2026 It is doubtful<\/em> that every work song shipboard is the result of literary musings or elevated thought, so there ya go!<\/p>\n

Jos. Morneault<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our boots and clothes are all in pawn
\nGo down, you blood red roses, Go down! <\/i><\/strong>
\nAnd it\u2019s mighty drafty ’round Cape Horn,
\nGo down, you blood red roses, Go down!<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

cho: Oh, you pinks and posies!<\/strong> <\/i>
\nGo down, you blood red roses, Go down!<\/strong> \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

For it’s ’round Cape Horn we all must go
\nFor that is where them whalefish blow.<\/p>\n

*Sing out me boys, and pull plus fort
\nAround Cape Stiff through the frost and snow.<\/p>\n

*My dear old father said to me,
\nOh son, you\u2019re a fool for to follow the sea!<\/p>\n

** “The topmen up,” the mate he roars!
\n“It’s lay aloft you lazy whores!”<\/p>\n

***The gals are waitin\u2019 straight ahead.
\nA long strong pull should shift the dead!<\/p>\n

Now pull ‘er taut\u00a0and that\u2019ll do
\nFor we’re the boys to\u00a0kick \u2018er through!<\/p>\n

*Verses I wrote or rearranged in order to lengthen the song\u00a0and to differentiate from similar lines utilized in other chanteys.
\n** Gratitude to Danny Spooner for this verse.
\n*** I composed this verse on the fly when singing with a group of friends when we rotated verses, each having to remember one.\u00a0 This was in the early ’90s.\u00a0 I’ve heard several performers sing this line after I had performed it for several years, and when I thanked them for covering my verse, the response was always, “I thought that it was traditional!” In one case, the performer was assertive in his response that it is the way he “has always sang it”, and would not hear of it being a recent addition to the song.\u00a0 All I can do is accept that it appears to have moved into “tradition”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLOOD RED ROSES\u00a0\u00a0is a halyard chantey sometimes called \u201cBunch o\u2019 Roses\u201d or some variant.\u00a0 There has been much speculation as to just what the \u201cblood red roses\u201d were as well as the \u201cpinks and posies\u201d; one source speculates that it is an imagery of the bubbling blood of a dying whale as they hauled the […]<\/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-335","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/335","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=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5919,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/335\/revisions\/5919"}],"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=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}