Interesting Facts about the What is in the Pot A-boiling
What is in the Pot A-boiling, in my opinion, definitely is the pulling shanty, the construction verses, and choruses clearly show it, however, Stan Hugill did not specify this clearly, but he left underscored words on choruses in music notation. According to this notation, we can be sure this song is a halyard shanty. Stan Hugill took this song from Cecil J. Sharp’s “Folk Song Society Journal (England Folk Song and Dance Society)” 1916: Vol 5 Iss 20. From Cecil Sharp’s description, this song was sung by Mr. H. C. Alison (Of Perth Scotland), at Stratford-On-Avon, on Aug. 29th, 1914.
The song will be reconstructed by myself as the halyard shanty.
The source of this sea shanty
The music: “Shantymen And Shantyboys” by William Main Doerflinger (1951).
The lyrics: “Shantymen And Shantyboys” by William Main Doerflinger (1951).
Mentioned in: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 166).
The Record of the What is in the Pot A-boiling
You also can find this record on my YouTube channel here or directly listen below. Additionally, if you want to share your opinion about the record or share your opinion you can do it in my Facebook forum here, or leave a comment at the bottom of this blog article.
The musical notation of the What is in the Pot A-boiling
The full lyrics
What is in the Pot A-boiling
What is in the pot a-boiling?
– O row, HEAVE and go!
Two sheep’s spunks and an apple dumpling,
– O row, HEAVE and go!