Row, bullies, row Liverpool Judies to Frisco

hells-pavement

Leggi in italiano

Liverpool Judies is an extremely popular sea shanty used as reported by Stan Hugill as Capstan shanty (but also as an forebitter) it is grouped into two main versions (with two different but interchangeable melodies): one in which our sailor lands in San Francisco, the other in New York.
Both versions, however, always end up with the drunken or drugged boy who wakes up again on a ship where he has been boarded by a small group of crimps
Fraudulent conscription takes the name of “shanghaiing“, especially in the north-west of the United States.

Liverpool Judies ended up in the repertoire of pirate songs (living history and historical reenactment festivals), and also in the movie “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves” by Ridley Scott (2010) (see film version). The title with which it is best known rather than “Liverpool Judies” is anyway “Row, bullies, row”.

ARCHIVE: Liverpool judies (Row bullies row)
 ‘Frisco
New York
from Robin Hood (Alan Doyle)

FROM LIVERPOOL TO ‘FRISCO: Liverpool Judies

Roud 928 ; Ballad Index Doe106 ; trad.]

Probably the most popular version, at least on the web, A. L. Lloyd comments :”The song of the Liverpool seaman who sailed to San Francisco with the intention of staying there, but who got himself shanghaied back to Merseyside again, was a favourite rousing forebitter, sometimes used at capstan work when the spokes were spinning easy.”

I
From Liverpool to ‘Frisco a-rovin’ I went,
For to stay in that country it was my good intent.
But drinkin’ strong whiskey like other damn fools,
Oh, I was very soon shanghaied(1) to Liverpool
CHORUS
singin’ Roll, roll, roll bullies, roll(2)!

Them Liverpool judies (3) have got us in tow
II
I shipped in near Lasker lying out(4) in the Bay,
we was waiting for a fair wind to get under way.
The sailors on board they was all sick and sore,
they’d drunk all their whiskey and couldn’t get no more.
III
One night off Cape Horn I willl never forget,
and It’s oh but a sigh(5) when I think of it yet.
We was going bows under the sail’s was all wet(6),
She was runnin’ (doin’) twelve knots wid her mainsky sunset (7).
IV
Well along comes the mate in his jacket o’ blue(8)
He’s lookin’ for work for them outlaws(9) to do.
Oh, it’s “Up tops and higher!(10)” he loudly does roar,
“And it’s lay aloft Paddy (11), ye son of a-whore!”
V
And now we are sailing down onto the Line,
when I think of it now, oh we’ve had a hard (good) time.
The sailors box-haulin'(12) them yards all around
to catch (beat) that flash clipper (13) (packet) the Thatcher MacGowan.
VI
And now we’ve arrived in the Bramleymoor Dock(14),
and all them flash judies on the pierhead do flock.
Our barrel’s run dry and me six quid advance,
I think (guess) it’s high time for to get up and dance.
VII
Here’s a health to our Captain wherever he may be,
he’s a devil (bucko) on land and a bucko (bully) at sea,
for as for the first mate, that lousy (dirty) old brute,
We hope when he dies straight to hell he’ll skyhoot.

NOTES
1) The verb “shanghaiinge” was coined in the mid-1800s to indicate the practice of violent or fraudulent conscription of sailors on english and american ships (it was declared illegal by the Seamen’s Act only in 1915!). The shanghaiing was widespread especially in the north-west of the United States. The men who ran this trade were called “crimps”.
The term implies the forced transport on board of the unfortunate on duty, sedated with a blow on the head or completely drunk. Upon awakening the poor man discovers that he has been hired as a sailor on the ship and he can not do anything but keep the commitment. Also written “I soon got transported back to Liverpoolhttps://terreceltiche.altervista.org/paddy-west/
2) or row (rowe is the Scottish word that stands for roll). The chorus wants to recall perhaps the use as rowing song by the whalers
3) The word “judy” is a dialectal expression of Liverpool to indicate a generic girl (not necessarily a prostitute); flash judies is a girlfriends. In the maritime language it became synonymous with favorable wind. AL Lloyd explains “When the ship was sailing at a fast speed, the sailors would say:” The girls have got hold of the tow-rope today. “
4) other versions say “I shipped on the Alaska” or “A smart Yankee packet lies out”
5) ‘Tis oft-times I sighs
6) or: She was divin’ bows under with her sailors all wet
7) mainsky sunset is a way to give meaning to another misunderstood word: main skys’l set: or main skysail set- skysail = A set sail very high, above the royals.
8)  a hell of a stew
9) us sailors
10) “Fore tops’l halyards
11) most of the crews on the packet ship were Irish
12) box-Haulinga method of veering or jibing a square rigged ship, without progressing to leeward appreciably. It is performed by heading bow to windward until most speed is lost, but steerage way is still barely maintained. The bow is then turned back downwind to the side it came from, aftermost sails are brailed up to spill the wind and to keep them from counteracting the turning force of the foresails, and the ship allowed to pivot quickly downwind without advancing. They are, however, extended as soon as the ship, in veering, brings the wind on the opposite quarter, as their effort then contributes to assist her motion or turning. Box-hauling is generally performed when the ship is too near the shore to have room for veering in the usual way. (Falconer- 1779) from here
13 )the clippers were always competing with each other to obtain the shortest crossing time
14) Bramley-Moore Dock is a port basin on the Marsey River (Liverpool): it was inaugurated in 1848

Hulton Clint and his Stan Hugill project-
Shanties from the Seven Seas

A
B
The Clancy Brothers · Tommy Makem 1964
The Spinners 1966
Ewan MacColl & A.L. Lloyd

Sean Lennon in Son Of Rogues Gallery ‘Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys ANTI 2013 CD1

Assassin’s Creed Rogue (Sea Shanty Edition)

Seán Dagher’s second version for his YT Channel Shanty of the Week takes the New York version replacing the first verse with the version “From Liverpool to ‘Frisco”.

Seán Dagher for Shanty of the Week

To listen to the second melody with which the song is matched

Jimmy Driftwood from Driftwood at Sea 1962
C

PIRATE VERSION

Clancy Brothers version for  “Treasure Island” tv serie
I
On the Hispaniola (1) lying out in the bay,
A-waitin’ for a fair wind to get under way.
The sailors all drunk and their backs is all sore,
Their rum is all gone and they can’t get no more.
Chorus: Row, Row, bullies, row!
Them Liverpool girls they have got us in tow. (2)
II
One night at Cape Horn we was crossing the line
When I think on it now we sure had a good time
She was divin’ bows under, her sailors all wet,
She was doin’ twelve knots with her mainskys’l set.
III
Here’s a health to the Captain where ‘er he may be,
He’s a friend to the sailor on land and at sea,
But as for our chief mate, the dirty ol’ brute
I hope when he dies straight to hell he’ll sky hoot

NOTES
1) Hispaniola is the schooner purchased by Mr. Trelawney to go in search of the Treasure Island
2) the term has become in the seafaring jargon synonymous with favorable winds that drive home (a fast spinning ship)

ARCHIVE: Liverpool judies (Row bullies row)
 ‘Frisco
New York
from Robin Hood (Alan Doyle)

LINK
http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/shanty/liverpol.htm
http://aliverpoolfolksongaweek.blogspot.it/2011/10/27-liverpool-judies.html
http://mainlynorfolk.info/louis.killen/songs/liverpooljudies.html
http://ilradicchioavvelenato.wordpress.com/tag/shanghaiing
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=16994
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=62354
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=158562

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Pubblicato da Cattia Salto

Amministratore e folklorista di Terre Celtiche Blog. Ha iniziato a divulgare i suoi studi e ricerche sulla musica, le danze e le tradizioni d'Europa nel web, dapprima in maniera sporadica e poi sempre più sistematicamente sul finire del anni 90

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