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Shanties


Rhomylly

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Actually Bustin credits Sandy & Caroline Paton. Johnny Collins recorded it as "Hard on the Beach Oar", since he probably mistook my accent when we sang it in Newcastle, and with a different tune than Bustin's. So goes the Folk process.

Cheers,

Geo

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Actually Bustin credits Sandy & Caroline Paton.

For Shenandoah?

 

No, I know you mean the "Shawneetown" song, but please include a reference when there's a single thread with many subjects interleaved. Even if you're responding to what you see as the last post, by the time your own post is registered there could be several in between.

 

As for the attribution, I wish the Mudcat notes were clearer. I see now that they could be read that the Patons were the source either for DB or for the person who entered the song in Mudcat.

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I'll keep you posted on how the gig goes...it may be moved up a couple weeks to start on the 24th.

 

Great! Think of all the time between now and then you have to practice!

 

Gigs are a great motivator!

 

A full report is expected :P

 

ldp

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Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman by William Main Doerflinger

Is a great resource. 373 pages of work songs from land and sea. Plenty of historical background about the tunes to go with it.

You can get a copy on half.com - there is one for sale for $8.00

 

Pam

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Malcolm Dalglish taught me this song called "shawneetown" (I think its a shanty)

 

 

Some rows up, but we floats down,

Way down the Ohio to Shawnee Town.

 

CHORUS

And it's hard on the beach ore,

She moves too slow,

Way down to Shawnee Town

On the Ohio.

 

Now the current's got her,

And we'll take up the slack;

We'll float her down to Shawnee Town

And bushwhack her back.

 

CHORUS

 

Whiskey's in the jug boys,

Wheat is in the sack,

We'll trade 'em down to Shawnee Town

And bring the rock salt back.

 

CHORUS

 

Got a gal in Louisville,

One in New Orleans,

When I get down to Shawnee Town

Gonna see my Indian queen.

 

CHORUS

 

Water's mighty warm boys,

The air is cold and dank,

And the cursed fog it gets so thick

You cannot see the bank.

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Malcolm Dalglish taught me this song called "shawneetown" (I think its a shanty)...

Yep, that's the one we were talkin' about (with mention of the Patons and Dillon Bustin).

I don't know it's origin, but I've heard it sung with a good working rhythm, so maybe it was an actual work song

 

And it's hard on the beach ore,

...

I think it's actually "beech oar", not "beach ore". But that does present an interesting picture: smelting ore over a fire, and little sandy beaches dripping out. :)

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Well, I don't know about on the Ohio, but on the James the bateau "operators" use the oars for steering, so I would think that pulling on the oar nearest to the bank (beach) in order to get out into the faster current, is the definition.

Cheers,

Geo

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Alternatively it could mean 'hard on the beach OR she moves too slow', i.e. stay close to the beach to move faster.

'Tain't the way it's sung. I.e., the pause comes after oar, not before or.

 

Geo. S.'s suggestion that it could be "beach oar" makes some sense (a la the origins of "starboard" and "port"), though I wonder what proportion of the riverbanks can rightly be described as "beach". Anybody here know of any contemporary stories of the riverboaters and rafters that might include their actual terminology?

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