Recorded Shanties

Interesting Facts about Sally Brown (A – Dick Maitland version)

This Sally Brown (A – Dick Maitland version), was sung by Dick Maitland, a shantyman whose shanties were the core of the collection of William Main Doerflinger. Here is how this shanty was commented by Doerflinger: Favorite heroine of shanty lore was the beguiling, rum-drinking, fickle Sally Brown. “Some people might think Sally Brown was rather immoral,” Dick Maitland philosophized, “but it was the way of the world in the days!” This I another “roll” shanty, the most famous “Roll an’ Go!”, also known as “Sally Brown”. 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!

The song will be reconstructed by myself as the capstan 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 164).

The Record of the Sally Brown (A – Dick Maitland version)

Sally Brown A (Dick Maitland version) - Capstan Shanty

The musical notation

The full lyrics

Sally Brown (A – Dick Maitland version)

Saly Brown was a gay old lady,
– Way-ay, Roll and go!
Oh, Saly Brown was a Creole lady,
– Spend my money on Sally Brown!

* 2 *

She had a farm in the isle of Jamaica,
Where she raised sugarcane, rum an, terbacker.

* 3 *

Also she had a fine young daughter,
And that’s the gal that I was after,

* 4 *

Seven long years I courted the daughter,
And when I asked her if she’d marry,

* 5 *

She would not have a tarry sailor!
She would not have a tarry sailor!

* 6 *

“Those lily-white hands and slender waist?
A tarry sailor I’ll ne’er embrace!”

* 7 *

But now my troubles they’re almost over,
Sally got married to a creol solider.

* 8 *

He beat and abused her and stole her money,
And left her with creol baby.

* 9 *

One night she was taken with a pain in her belly,
And they sent for a doctor and his name was kelly.

* 10 *

He rode a horse with a ropeyarn bridle,
And he laid young Sally on the table

* 11 *

And from her took a little tar baby.
Oh, Sally dear, why didn’t you have me?

Related to this sea shanty

Sally Brown (A – Stanley Slade version)

Interesting Facts about Sally Brown (A – Stanley Slade version)

This I another “roll” shanty the most famous “Roll an’ Go!”, also known as “Sally Brown”, this particular version is called, Sally Brown (A – Stanley Slade). 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! Stan Hugill mentions that, with this version of the melody, the word was always added to make the text match the notes. A very famous shantyman from Bristol, Stanley Slade always sang in this fashion.

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 ut Sally Brown (A – Stanley Slade version)

Sally Brown A (Stanley Slade version) - Capstan Shanty

The musical notation

The full lyrics

Sally Brown (A – Stanley Slade version)

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

* 2 *

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

* 3 *

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

* 4 *

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

* 5 *

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

* 6 *

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

Related to this sea shanty

Sally Brown (A2)

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.

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

Sally Brown (A)

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

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

Roll The Wood-pile Down – Shore Song

Hieland Laddie (B) – stevedores chant

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

The Powder Monkey – Shore Sea-Song

Timber Drogher’s Shanty

Roll The Woodpile Down

So Early In The Morning (B)

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 (C)

Lowlands Away (A) (i)

Alabama II

So Early In The Morning (B)

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 (C)

Lowlands Away (A) (i)

Lowlands Away (A) (ii)

Roll Alabama Roll! – Forebitter