{"id":4026,"date":"2016-04-15T17:33:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T21:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=4026"},"modified":"2021-06-15T10:09:16","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T14:09:16","slug":"alabama-john-cherokee","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=4026","title":{"rendered":"Alabama John Cherokee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim sings this one and it has gained in popularity amongst our crowd of late. \u00a0It’s a halyard chantey, which is to say it was for the raising of the yard for the setting of the sail; a heavy task in high winds or dirty weather.\u00a0 The pull or “heave” by the crew comes on the down beat of the chorus =\u00a0AL<\/span>–<\/strong>abama\u00a0JO<\/span>–<\/strong>hn Cherokee!\u00a0<\/strong>and then the\u00a0WAY<\/span><\/strong> haay YA!<\/span><\/strong> (unnh).\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0I was always amused at the idea of a Cherokee allegedly from Alabama (the Cherokee had come from around the Carolinas and Tennessee <\/a>but largely removed in the 1830s to live in Arkansas and parts of what is now Oklahoma by the time the chantey was supposed to have been written), and that in one verse it is said that he came “from Miramachi”, a region from the north-east part of New Brunswick,<\/a> Canada (not far from my family home area)… The statement that he had been a slave “down in Alabam’ ” notwithstanding. \u00a0Stan Hugill doesn’t offer much for its source but some historians believe that it dates from around the 1840s, and certainly during the time of black and non-white slavery of the American south and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

Tim does not sing the final verse but I thought I’d include it as it seems to round out the ghost story rather well…<\/p>\n

Jos. Morneault<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, this is a story of John Cherokee
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em>
\nAn Indian man from Miramachi
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CHORUS
\nWaayy haay YA! (Unhh) Alabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Now John Cherokee was an Indian man
\nAlabama John Cherokee\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
\nThey made him a slave down in Alabam\u2019
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

Well, they put him aboard a whaling ship
\nAlabama John Cherokee\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
\nAnd again and again he gave them the slip
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

Well, they caught him again and they chained him tight
\nAlabama John Cherokee\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
\nAnd they put him in the hold without any light
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

He had nothing to eat and nothing to drink
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em>
\nUntil his bones began to clink
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

Gave him nothing to eat and nothing to drink
\nAlabama John Cherokee\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
\nUntil he dropped dead at the Captain\u2019s feet
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

And now his ghost, it can be seen
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em>
\nSitting on the main truck, all slimy and green
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

At the break of dawn he goes below
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em>
\nAnd that is when the rooster crows
\nAlabama John Cherokee<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim sings this one and it has gained in popularity amongst our crowd of late. \u00a0It’s a halyard chantey, which is to say it was for the raising of the yard for the setting of the sail; a heavy task in high winds or dirty weather.\u00a0 The pull or “heave” by the crew comes on […]<\/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-4026","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4026","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=4026"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5612,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4026\/revisions\/5612"}],"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=4026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}