Interesting Facts about the Heave Away Me Johnnies A
“Heave Away Me Johnnies A” initially was a genuine brake-windlass shanty. Brake-windlass work was too heavy to move levers up and down, so movement from top to bottom has mid-step on the waist. The usual timing used was 2/4 or 6/8. This song is one of My first recorded shanties from Stan Hugill’s “Shanties From the Seven Seas” book I recorded.
The source of this sea shanty
The music: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed: p 303).
The lyrics: “Shanties from the Seven Seas” by Stan Hugill (1st ed: p 303, 304).
The Record of the Heave Away Me Johnnies A
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
And the full lyrics
Heave Away Me Johnnies A
Oh as I walked out one summer’s morn, (SLOW)
Down by the Salthouse Docks, (QUICKER)
– Heave away, me Johnnies, heave away-away!
I met an emigrant Irish gal, (SLOW)
conversin’ with Tapscott, (QUICKER)
– An away me bully boys, we’re all bound to go!
* 2 *
‘Good mornin’, Mister Tapscott, sir’, ‘Good-mornin, me gal,’ sez he,
‘Oh, it’s have jiz got a packet-ship, All bound for Amerikee?’
* 3 *
‘Oh, yes I have got a packet-ship, I have got one or two,
I’ve got the Jinny Walker and I’ve got the Kangaroo.
* 4 *
‘I’ve got the Jinny Walker and today she does set sail,
With five an’ fifty emigrants an’ a thousands bags o’ meal.’
* 5 *
The day was fine when we set sail, but night had barely come,
An’ every lubber never ceased to wish himself at home.
* 6 *
That night as we was sailin’ through the Channel of St. James,
A dirty nor’west wind came up an’ druv us back again.
* 7 *
We snugged her down an’ we laid her to, with reefed main tops’l set,
It was no joke I tell you, ‘cos our bunks an’ clothes wuz wet.
* 8 *
It cleared up fine at break o’ day, an’ we set sail once more,
An’ every son-o’-a-gun wuz glad when we reached Amerikee’s shore.
* 9 *
Bad luck to them Irish sailor-boys, bad luck to them I sais,
For they all got drunk, broke into me bunk, an’ stole me clothes away.
* 10 *
‘Twas at the Castle Gardens, oh, they landed me ashore,
An’ if I marry a Yankee boy, I’ll cross the seas no more.
