thedrifter
08-14-07, 07:10 AM
Sailor songs of old are sparking sing-alongs anew
By ROBIN BROWN, The News Journal
Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Their idea of historic preservation includes no bricks whatsoever. It's just music to the ears.
Members of the historical interpretation group Ship's Company Chanteymen gather from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., to preserve early American maritime heritage.
Aside from being scurvy-free, they portray the musical part of nautical life in the 1700s and 1800s. Many of their songs originally set a pace to keep ship crews rowing in time or doing rhythmic chores such as turning a capstan. Some just filled long hours or lonely nights at sea.
The sea songs of bygone civilian sailors, Navy men and Marines are called chanteys -- and their singers, chanteymen. "A lot of people don't know the music exists," said Jim "Tiger" Rockwell of Wilmington, a founder of Ship's Company Chanteymen.
Since early sailors spent years away from home, first-time listeners should not be surprised that many tunes mention fair maidens -- good and bad. In "Blow the Man Down" -- everyone knows the chorus lines, but who knows the verses? -- a woman dupes a man who becomes an unwilling sailor.
"There's not a whole lot do do on board a ship if you're actually working it," Rockwell said. For more than a decade, the Chanteymen have shared sea salts' songs with tens of thousands, all over the East Coast. Every month, they host an open chantey sing in the Washington, D.C., area.
They also share traditional instruments such as the concertina, jaw harp and bones or wood sticks. And they dress the part. They do get guff for the white pants, black ties and old-timey hats, Rockwell said, "but I don't mind a bit. I've been wearing funny clothes since I was a teenager."
Rockwell and his fellow rascals call their shows "songs of the sea: dredged up, lightly salted and performed with gusto by sailors fresh from the brig." And like early sailors, Rockwell said, "we'll go pretty much anywhere they'll pay us."
Last month, they got a warm reception at the Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church, where listeners sang along and tried some instruments.
They next come ashore here Saturday, Sept. 15, at CanalFest in Delaware City. They plan to play a "timeline" of maritime music over the ages.
Like many fans of their music, several members of the Chanteymen are involved in tall ships.
Rockwell is a longtime volunteer and past director of the Kalmar Nyckel in Wilmington -- a nonprofit, educational re-creation of the ship that brought the state's first permanent European settlers. Chanteys also are popular, he said, among Irish pub music fans who like the rollicking tunes and sing-along choruses.
A folk music fan since Boy Scout age, Rockwell said he started a Wilmington chantey group years ago called Nyckel's Worth.
The group ended -- as ship crews do -- when those aboard "scattered to the four winds."
But the idea endures. And it could grow again, if you're interested.
"I'd love to start a new chantey group here in Delaware," Rockwell said. He can be reached by potential chanteymen and women -- no sailing or chantey experience necessary -- at seatigergo@yahoo.com.
Or drop him a message in a bottle.
Write to robin brown at The News Journal, Box 15505, Wilmington, DE 19850; fax 324-5509; call 324-2856; or e-mail backstory@delawareonline.com.
Ellie
By ROBIN BROWN, The News Journal
Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Their idea of historic preservation includes no bricks whatsoever. It's just music to the ears.
Members of the historical interpretation group Ship's Company Chanteymen gather from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., to preserve early American maritime heritage.
Aside from being scurvy-free, they portray the musical part of nautical life in the 1700s and 1800s. Many of their songs originally set a pace to keep ship crews rowing in time or doing rhythmic chores such as turning a capstan. Some just filled long hours or lonely nights at sea.
The sea songs of bygone civilian sailors, Navy men and Marines are called chanteys -- and their singers, chanteymen. "A lot of people don't know the music exists," said Jim "Tiger" Rockwell of Wilmington, a founder of Ship's Company Chanteymen.
Since early sailors spent years away from home, first-time listeners should not be surprised that many tunes mention fair maidens -- good and bad. In "Blow the Man Down" -- everyone knows the chorus lines, but who knows the verses? -- a woman dupes a man who becomes an unwilling sailor.
"There's not a whole lot do do on board a ship if you're actually working it," Rockwell said. For more than a decade, the Chanteymen have shared sea salts' songs with tens of thousands, all over the East Coast. Every month, they host an open chantey sing in the Washington, D.C., area.
They also share traditional instruments such as the concertina, jaw harp and bones or wood sticks. And they dress the part. They do get guff for the white pants, black ties and old-timey hats, Rockwell said, "but I don't mind a bit. I've been wearing funny clothes since I was a teenager."
Rockwell and his fellow rascals call their shows "songs of the sea: dredged up, lightly salted and performed with gusto by sailors fresh from the brig." And like early sailors, Rockwell said, "we'll go pretty much anywhere they'll pay us."
Last month, they got a warm reception at the Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church, where listeners sang along and tried some instruments.
They next come ashore here Saturday, Sept. 15, at CanalFest in Delaware City. They plan to play a "timeline" of maritime music over the ages.
Like many fans of their music, several members of the Chanteymen are involved in tall ships.
Rockwell is a longtime volunteer and past director of the Kalmar Nyckel in Wilmington -- a nonprofit, educational re-creation of the ship that brought the state's first permanent European settlers. Chanteys also are popular, he said, among Irish pub music fans who like the rollicking tunes and sing-along choruses.
A folk music fan since Boy Scout age, Rockwell said he started a Wilmington chantey group years ago called Nyckel's Worth.
The group ended -- as ship crews do -- when those aboard "scattered to the four winds."
But the idea endures. And it could grow again, if you're interested.
"I'd love to start a new chantey group here in Delaware," Rockwell said. He can be reached by potential chanteymen and women -- no sailing or chantey experience necessary -- at seatigergo@yahoo.com.
Or drop him a message in a bottle.
Write to robin brown at The News Journal, Box 15505, Wilmington, DE 19850; fax 324-5509; call 324-2856; or e-mail backstory@delawareonline.com.
Ellie