Hear Ye! Hear Ye! New Sea Shanty Store!

Don't you just love this duck or is it a goose?
Well, he is flying to the Sea Shanty Store
on www.sailorsongs.com
I created this store so I could sell my
own 2 compact discs of sailor songs
and pirate songs etc., but then I realized
that I should offer more.

Click this link for the new Sea Shanty store on the
"Sailorsongs.com website.
I have chosen to sell a large selection of the best
Sea Shanty CD's in the world.
Take some time to browse and you will be
delighted to find some real gems!
They might light up your life...

Chinese sea shanties

Chinese sea shanties. Hmmm! well yes the have the same tradition of using song in rhythm with the work on boats and ships. While aboard, I took this photo of Hui-Ping Chen as a passenger on a Chinese sampan.

The woman in the rear was sculling the boat with a single oar called a yuloh.
She sang as she propelled us down a canal and out into a larger body of water... happy as a clam. (we gave her money).

They use this type of boat in the canals of Suzhou, China the same way that Venetians of Italy use boats in their canals for transporting people. They also use them for commerce.
Learn a lot more about sea shanties at www.sailorsongs.com

Maggie May

It had occurred to me that this song was the same that the Beatles had recorded, although they only recorded a small part of the song.
The song was taught to John by his mother Julia who was a free spirit and played banjo.

Here are the lyrics. I always liked the song and recorded it on my first CD entitled "Sailor Songs".
It's the eighth track on the CD.

You can download it or buy it or just read the original lyrics here.
http://www.sailorsongs.com/maggie_may.html

This was a song that people played in the days of skiffle music with washtub bass and acoustic guitars and banjos. When I was young I always wondered what skiffle
music was. I had never heard the word before. After reading biography of John Lennon, I found out. I love language and I always like to know the meaning of every word. Inevitably I can speak a bit in several languages...but I digress. Hey just follow the link above and read those lyrics from the days of sailing ships coming into Liverpool and the shameless woman from Lime Street.

"A Rolling Down The River" or "Saucy Arabella"

"A Rollin’ Down the River" also known as "The Saucy Arabella" was a capstan & pumps shanty used on board ships as a work song in the times of sail. It has a nice lilt to it when sung.

Here are the original lyrics http://www.sailorsongs.com/a_rollin_down_the_river.html

Here Is a link to an interesting blog. I'm not sure if the ship "Arabella" is the same one in the song as the one mentioned in the history described in this blog below.
http://carolyncholland.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/in-search-of-the-arabella/
Fair Winds
Roger

Sailor Songs first post

This is the first post for Sailor Songs, a blog about the website http://www.sailorsongs.com
I have to direct you to a bunch of pages eventually but one that is very cool is this
http://www.sailorsongs.com/lyrics.html You can find hundreds of pages of lyrics to sea shanties and sailor songs here.
The fun thing is the nimbit player where you can hear samples of sea shanty CD's "Sailor Songs" and "Sailing Away". There is one song I love Drunken Sailor but they are all interesting. There are original old sea shanties and fun songs about sailing and drinking.
Here is a recipe for Grog!

Captain Roger's recipe for grog: 1 Cup or mug 2 Shot of rum 3 Teaspoon of powdered sugar 4 Lime juice - Squeeze a piece of lime to prevent scurvy. 5 Cinnamon stick. 6 Boiling water (fill 'er up) Let it cool enough, then ...Drink Hearty Mates!