Jerzy Brzezinski, Author at Traditional Sea Shanties

Sally Brown (A2)

December 18, 2023April 7, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about Sally Brown (A2)

This I another “roll” shanty, the most famous “Roll an’ Go!”, also known as “Sally Brown (A2)”. This is a capstan shanty, as Stan Hugill mentions it is only one theme of this song, and it is – all about Sally and her daughter. As the author of “Shanties from The Seven Seas” mentioned – there existed many obscene verses, which accounts partly for the fact that popularity never waned! Worth mentioning is the fact that most of the verses Stan Hugill has from my favored shantyman (due to his yelps), Harding Barabadaian the West Indian Seamen.

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the capstan shanty.

The source of this sea shanty

The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 163).

The lyrics: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 163, 164).

The Record of the Sally Brown (A2)

In this reconstruction, I will only sing two verses to show another version mentioned by Stan Hugill. The melody of this version differs from the previous ending.

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

The full lyrics

Sally Brown (A2)

Ooh! Saly Brown she’s a bright mulatter,
– Way-hay, Roll an’ go!
She drinks rum an’ chaws terbacker,
– Spend my money on Sally Brown!

* 2 *

Sally lives on the old plantation,
She is daughter of the Wild Goose Nation.

Related to this sea shanty

Bound for the Rio Grande (Cecil Sharp Version)

Rio Grande (B)

A Long Time Ago (C)

Sally Brown (A)

December 18, 2023April 7, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about Sally Brown (A)

This is another “roll” shanty, the most famous “Roll an’ Go!”, also known as “Sally Brown”, Sally Brown (A) is the capstan shanty, as Stan Hugill mentions it is only one theme in this song, and it is – all about Sally and her daughter. As an author of “Shanties from The Seven Seas” mentioned – there existed many obscene verses, which accounts partly for the fact that popularity never waned! Worth mentioning is the fact that most of the verses Stan Hugill has from my favored shantyman (due to his yelps), Harding Barabadaian the West Indian Seamen.

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the capstan shanty.

The source of this sea shanty

The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 162).

The lyrics: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 163, 164).

The Record of the Sally Brown (A)

The musical notation

The full lyrics

Sally Brown (A)

Ooh! Sally Brown she’s a bright mulatter,
– Way-hay, Roll an’ go!
She drinks rum an’ chaws terbacker,
– Spend my money on Sally Brown!

* 2 *

Sally lives on the old plantation,
She is daughter of the Wild Goose Nation.

* 3 *

Seven long years I courted Sally,
But all she did was dilly-dally,

* 4 *

Sally Brown’s a big buck creole,
Her bow is big, but her starn is bigger.

* 5 *

I brought her growns an’ I bought ‘er laces,
Took her out to all the places.

* 6 *

Sally’s teeth are white an’ pearly,
Her eyes are black an’ her hair is curly.

* 7 *

Sally lives in ol’ Jamaica,
Sellin’ rum an’ grown’ terbacker

* 8 *

I call her my ol, Queen of Faces,
Bought her coral beads an’ laces.

* 9 *

The sweetest flower in the valley,
Is my own my pretty Sally.

* 10 *

Sally Brown, what is the matter?
Pretty gal, but can’t git at her.

* 11 *

Sally Brown, I love ye dearly,
Ye had me heart, or very nearly.

* 12 *

Sally Brown’s a wild ol’ lady,
Sally’s got a creole baby

* 13 *

Sally Brown she wouldn’t marry,
An’ I no longer cared to tarry.

* 14 *

Sally Brown, I love yer daughter,
I love Yer farm beside the water.

* 15 *

Sally Brown, I kissed yer daughter,
Stopped her rum an’ gave her water.

* 16 *

She wouldn’t have a tarry sailor,
So I shipped away in a New Bedford whaler.

* 17 *

Sally Brown, I took a notion,
To sail across the flamin’ ocean.

* 18 *

I shipped away in a New Bedford whaler,
When I got back she wuz courtin’ a tailor.

* 19 *

Now me troubles they are over,
Sally’s married to a creol solider.

* 20 *

He beat her up an’ stole her money,
Then left her with a creol baby.

21 *

Sally Brown, I’m bound ter leave yer,
Sally Brown, I’ll not deceive yer.

Related to this sea shanty

Bound for the Rio Grande (Cecil Sharp Version)

Rio Grande (B)

A Long Time Ago (C)

Roll The Woodpile Down – capstan

December 18, 2023April 6, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about Roll The Woodpile Down – capstan

Roll The Woodpile Down – capstan, is another shanty that is partially related to “Roll The Cotton Down”. This particular version mentioned by Stan Hugill belongs to S. Taylor Harris, and as a chorus instead of “Rollin’, Rollin” is used “Trav’ling, Treav’ling”, and this is all we can get about Harris’s version. The whole version we can find in S. Taylor Harris’s “Six Sea Shanties”(1925), fortunately for me I owned this super unique book, so I will be really pleased to reconstruct this beautiful version. This song I will sing as a capstan shanty.

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the capstan shanty.

The source of this sea shanty

The music: “Six Sea Shanties” by S. Taylor Harris (1925).

The lyrics: “Six Sea Shanties” by S. Taylor Harris (1925).

Mentioned in: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 161).

The Record of the Roll The Woodpile Down – capstan

The musical notation

The full lyrics

Roll The Woodpile Down

The white folk larfed as the coon pass’d by,
– ‘Way down in Florida.
The white folk larfed as the coon pass’d by,
– An’ we’ll roll the woodpile down!
– Trav’ling, Trav’ling! as long as the worl’ goes roun’
– That brown gal of mine on the Georgia Line,
– An’ we’ll roll the woodpile down.

* 2 *

The roof do leak and the rain come froo,
The roof do leak and the rain come froo,

* 3 *

Old Runkelkeit was a dam good cook,
Old Runkelkeit was a dam good cook,

* 4 *

Oh! the work is hard and the biscuits too,
Oh! the work is hard and the biscuits too,

Related to this sea shanty

Bound for the Rio Grande (Cecil Sharp Version)

Rio Grande (B)

A Long Time Ago (C)

Roll The Wood-pile Down – Shore Song

December 18, 2023April 4, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about Roll The Wood-pile Down – Shore Song

Roll The Wood-pile Down is the Negro version, sailors sometimes sang the chorus from this version: “Haul the woodpile down”. This song will be sung in a halyard shanty tempo, but of course, it is a shore song.

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the shore song.

The source of this sea shanty

The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 160).

The lyrics: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 161).

The Record Roll The Wood-pile Down – Shore Song

The full lyrics

Roll The Woodpile Down

Old Aunt Dinah had a farm
– Way down in Florida
Old Aunt Dinah had a farm
– Haul the woodpile down

Related to this song

Hieland Laddie (B) – stevedores chant

The Powder Monkey – Shore Sea-Song

Timber Drogher’s Shanty

Roll The Woodpile Down

December 18, 2023April 4, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about Roll The Woodpile Down

“Roll The Woodpile Down” is another shanty that is partially related to “Roll The Cotton Down”. This shanty is a sea version of Negro song “Haul The Woodpile Down”. Stan Hugill’s version comes from West Indian seamen and is fairly obvious it originated in either the West Indies or the Southern States of America, most probably in the latter, being, perhaps, one of the many rivermen songs that reached deep water. No specified type of this shanty in Stan Hugill’s book, the grand chorus gives us two options, I decided this time to recreate this song as pump shanty. To be more precise, the tempo is adjusted to the “Downton” pump.

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the pump shanty.

The source of this sea shanty

The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 160).

The lyrics: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 160, 161).

The Record of the Roll The Woodpile Down

The musical notation

The full lyrics

Roll The Woodpile Down

‘Way down south where the socks do crow,
– ‘Way down in Florida!
The gals they all dance to the ol banjo,
– An’ we’ll roll the woodpile down!
– Rollin’! Rollin’! oh, Rollin’ the whole worl’ round,
– That brown gal o’ mine’s down the Georgia Line,
– An’ we’ll roll the woodpile down!

* 2 *

When I was a young man in me prime,
I chased them yaller gals two at a time,

* 3 *

We’ll roll him high an’ we’ll roll him low,
We’ll heave him up and away we’ll go,

* 4 *

O rouse an’ bust ‘er is the cry,
A black man’s wage is never high.

* 5 *

O Curly goes on the ol’ ran-tan,
O Curly’s jist a Down-East Man.

* 6 *

O one more heave an’ that’ll do,
We’re the bullies for to kick ‘er through.

Related to this sea shanty

So Early In The Morning (B)

So Early In The Morning (C)

Lowlands Away (A) (i)

Alabama II

December 18, 2023April 4, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about Alabama II

This version of the “Roll, Alabama, Roll”, Alabama II Stan Hugill mentioned, is the version from William Main Doerflinger’s “Shantymen And Shantyboys”(1951), and instead of the halyard shanty this time is sang as pump shanty. Here full version of this song from Doerflinger’s book, indexed as The “Alabama (II)”, in his book.

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the pump 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 160).

The Record of the Alabama II

And the full lyrics of the Alabama II

Alabama II

Oh, in eighteen hundread an’ sixty-one,
– Roll, alabama, roll!
The Alabama’s keel was laid,
– And roll, Alabama, roll!

* 2 *

‘Twas laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird
At the town of Birkenhead.

* 3 *

At first she was called the “Two-Ninety-Two,”
For the merchants of the city of Liverpool

* 4 *

Put up the money to build the ship,
In the hopes of driving the commerce from the sea.

* 5 *

Down the Mersey she sailed one day
To the port of Fayal in the Western Isles.

* 6 *

There she refitted with men and guns,
And sailed across the Western Sea,

* 7 *

With orders to sink, burn and destroy
All ships belonging to the North.

* 8 *

Till one day in the harbor of Cherbourgh she laid,
And the little Kearsage was waiting there.

* 9 *

And the Kersage with Winslow was waiting there,
And Winslow challenged them to fight at sea.

* 10 *

Outside the three-mile limit they fought,
Outside the three-mile limit they fought

* 11 *

Till a shot from the forward pivot that day
Took the Alabama’s steering gear away,

* 12 *

And at the kearsage’s mercy she lay,
And Semms escaped on a British yacht.

Related to this sea shanty

So Early In The Morning (B)

So Early In The Morning (C)

Lowlands Away (A) (i)

Lowlands Away (A) (ii)

Roll Alabama Roll! – Forebitter

December 18, 2023April 4, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about Roll Alabama Roll! – Forebitter

This forebitter has a very similar tune to “Roll The Cotton Down”, “Roll Alabama Roll! – Forebitter”. Stan Hugill has “Roll The Cotton Down” – Forebitter version, from New Zeland Lady which he met, in New Zeland in 1925, whose husband had been a seaman in “Alabama”.

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the forebitter.

The source of this forebitter

The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 159).

The lyrics: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 159).

The Record of the Roll Alabama Roll! – Forebitter

The musical notation

The full lyrics

Roll, Alabama, Roll!

Oh, in eighteen hundread an’ sixty one,
– ROLL, alabama, ROLL!
This ship her building wuz begun.
– Oh ROLL, alabama, ROLL!

* 2 *

When the Alabama’s keel was laid,
This ship her building was begun.

* 3 *

Oh, she was build in Birkenhead,
Built in the yard of Jonathan Laird

* 4 *

And down the Mersey she rolled one day,
An’ across the western she ploughed her way

* 5 *

With British guns, oh, she was stocked,
She sail from Fayal – in Cherbourg she docked.

* 6 *

To fight the North, Semmes did employ,
Any method to kill an’ destroy.

* 7 *

But off Cherbourg, the Kearsage lay tight,
Awaiting was Winslow to start a good fight.

* 8 *

Outside the three-mile limit they fought,
An’ Semmes escaped on a fine British yacht.

* 9 *

The Kersarge won – Alabama so brave,
Sank to the bottom to a watery grave.

Related to this Forebitter

The Five-Gallon Jar

The Gals O’ Dublin Town (A)

Lower The Boat Down

December 18, 2023April 4, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about Lower The Boat Down

Here halyard version of the shanty “Roll the cotton down”, described by Joanna C. Colcord in her “Roll And Go – Songs Of The American Sailormen” (1924), “Lower The Boat Down”. Joanna Colcord claims this song has Negro origin, and is almost the same as a version (C) from Stan Hugill’s book, without a grand chorus. Miss Colcord claims the words are very likely borrowed from shanty “Rolling King”, However, Stan Hugill is closer to the theory that words are from “South Australia”. To make the case even more complicated, Cecil Sharp gives similar words in his version of “One More Day”.

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the halyard shanty.

The source of this sea shanty

The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 154 ).

The lyrics: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 159). The first stanza comes from “Shanties From The Seven Seas”, and the second from Cecil Sharp’s “English Folk-Chanteys”. (1914).

The Record of the Lower The Boat Down

The full lyrics

Lower The Boat Down

There’s only one thing grives me,
– Oh, lower the boat down!
It’s my poor wife and bayby,
– Oh, lower the boat down!

* 2 *

I’m bound away to leave you
Don’t let my parting grieve you

Related to this shanty

A Long Time Ago (A)

Stormalong Lads Stormy

De Runer Von Hamborg

Oh Köm un Beer for mi (German)

December 18, 2023April 4, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about Oh Köm un Beer for mi

Here halyard version of the shanty “Roll the cotton down”, Oh Köm un Beer for mi. This version is sung aboard German ships. This one as a halyard, and “Sacramento” as capstan were the two most popular shanties aboard German ships. Stan Hugill heard and took part in the singing of this hauling song many times and participated in singing this song on board a German barque. Here is the version from “Knurrhahn: Seemannslieder und Shanties” (1936).

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the halyard shanty.

The source of this sea shanty

The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 154 ).

The lyrics: “Knurrhahn – Seemannslieder und Shanties” Richard Baltzer; Klaus Prigge; Knurrhahn-Lotsen-Gesangverein (1936).

The Record of the Oh Köm un Beer for mi

The full lyrics

Oh Köm un Beer for mi

No den Suden to, dor foort een Shipp,
– Oh, KöM un Beer for ME!
Verprovianteert mit schlauem Kniff,
– Oh, KöM un Beer for ME!

* 2 *

Wat harr dat schipp for’n proviant,
Dre Arften, dre Bonen, tein Foten vull Sand.

* 3 *

Doch ut de slappkist dor kunnst all’ns hemm,
De Ool dat wor een bussiness-man.

* 4 *

Un morgens Klock soss koom de Ool an Deck,
Un spee denn eerst mol ober dat Heck.

* 5 *

Oh, Stuurmann, wat sund de Luud for ne Blaas,
Laat se eerst mol hentrummen de Raas.

* 6 *

De Stuurmann de gung in vuller Wut,
Nat dat Logis un haalt de Luud herut.

* 7 *

‘Turn to’ wi wullt hentrummen de Raas,
Doch Janmoot denkt, du kannst uns mol.

* 8 *

Un sund wi in Hamborg man eerst vermoort,
Gaat wi von Bord un geevt ‘three boos’.

Related to this shanty

A Long Time Ago (A)

Stormalong Lads Stormy

De Runer Von Hamborg

De Runer Von Hamborg (German)

December 18, 2023April 4, 2022 by Jerzy Brzezinski

Interesting Facts about De Runer Von Hamborg

Here halyard version of the shanty “Roll the cotton down”, the De Runer Von Hamborg. This version is sung aboard German ships. This one as a halyard, and “Sacramento” as capstan were the two most popular shanties aboard German ships. Stan Hugill heard and took part in the singing of this hauling song many times and participated in singing this song on board a German barque.

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the halyard shanty.

The source of this sea shanty

The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 154 ).

The lyrics: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 156, 157 ).

The Record of the De Runer Von Hamborg

The full lyrics

De Runer Von Hamborg

De see geiht hoch, de Wind de blast,
– Oh, KOHM un Beer for MI!
Janmaat, de fleit, is nie verbaast,
– Oh, KOHM un Beer for MI!

* 2 *

Reise aus Quartier un all’ an Deck,
De Ool de fiert de Marssails weg.

* 3 *

Un wenn wi nu na Hamborg kaamt,
Denn suut man all’ de Sneiders staan.

* 4 *

Elias roppt, dor bust du ja,
Ik see di nich tom eersten Mal.

* 5 *

Du bruukst gewiss een’ neen Hoot,
Ik heff weck von de neeste Mood.

* 6 *

Un ok gewiss een Taschendook,
Un’n neen Slips, den bruukst du ok.

* 7 *

Un ook een beeten Seep un Twern,
Un denn one pound to’n Amuseern.

* 8 *

Wi is dat een lutjen Koom,
Un een Zigarr, dat smeckt doch schoon.

* 9 *

Afmusert ward, dat is mol klor,
Wie gaat von Bord un schreet Hurroh.

Related to this shanty

A Long Time Ago (A)

Stormalong Lads Stormy

A Long Time Ago – Cecil Sharp Version