Categoria: EMIGRATION SONG/Canti sull’emigrazione

Airdí Cuan, a song of exile

A song in Irish Gaelic, a song of exile, is widespread with various titles: Airdí Cuan, Ard Ti Chuain, Aird (Ard) Ui Chuanin (Cuan), Aird to Chumhaing, Ardai Chuain, also translated into English with the title “Quiet Land of Erin”
The piece was composed by John McCambridge (aka Seán Mac Ambróis 1793-1873) from Mullarts (Co. Antrim, Northen Ireland) in the middle of the 19th century. The tradition of Glenariffe, however, attributes the authorship of the piece to Cormac Ó Néill, a native of Glendun but resident at Glenariffe.
[Un canto in gaelico sulla nostalgia per la terra natia abbandonata dall’emigrante è diffuso con vari titoli: Airdí Cuan, Ard Ti Chuain, Aird (Ard) Ui Chuanin ( Cuan),  Aird a Chumhaing, Ardai Chuain, versificato anche in inglese con il titolo “Quiet Land of Erin”
Il brano è stato composto da John McCambridge (alias Seán Mac Ambróis 1793-1873) di Mullarts (  Co. Antrim,  Irlanda del Nord) a metà del XIX secolo. La tradizione di  Glenariffe tuttavia attribuisce la paternità del brano a Cormac Ó Néill, nativo di Glendun ma residente a Glenariffe.]

Firstly we listen to the melody played with the harp by Kim Robertson
[Prima di tutto ascoltiamo la melodia suonata con l’arpa da Kim Robertson]

and by Alan Stivell -Airde Cuan
[e dall’arpa di Alan Stivell]

IRIS GEALIC VERSION
LA VERSIONE IN GAELICO

The first transcription of the song comes from Robert McAdam who collected it in the 1830s by John McCambridge. Eoin Mac Néill published the text in 1895 and in 1912 Eleanor Hull wrote the translation in English. Dónal Kearney writes  in his Blog:”The story of Airdí Cuan is told from the perspective of a Glensman who has moved over the sea to Scotland. From Ayrshire, he can still see the hills of Antrim and he longs for his home in Glendun and the beautiful hillside at Airdí Cuan. One story goes that McCambridge left his native Glendun, perhaps to escape the potato famine, and settled in Ayrshire where he ultimately died pining for the hills of home, still visible on the western horizon. Airdí Cuan tells of his love for the ‘cuckoo glen’; (Glendun) and of playing hurling at Christmas on the ‘white strand’ (the beach at Cushendun).
Another school of thought believes that, while McCambridge was considering emigrating to the Mull of Kintyre, he stood atop Ardicoan and imagined himself over in Kintyre looking back on his native soil. However, the process of writing the song made him so homesick that he decided not to go in the end, and thus spent the rest of his days in Ireland!“
[La prima trascrizione del brano ci viene da Robert McAdam che la raccolse negli anni del 1830 da  John McCambridge.  Eoin Mac Néill pubblicò il testo nel 1895 e nel 1912 Eleanor Hull scrisse la traduzione in inglese. Del brano Così scrive Dónal Kearney nel suo Blog: “La storia di Airdí Cuan è raccontata dal punto di vista di un Glensman che è emigrato oltre il mare in Scozia. Dall’Ayrshire, può ancora vedere le colline di Antrim e desidera ardentemente la sua casa a Glendun e la splendida collina di Airdí Cuan. Una storia racconta che McCambridge lasciò la natia Glendun, forse per sfuggire alla carestia delle patate, e si stabilì nell’Ayrshire dove alla fine morì struggendosi per le colline di casa, ancora visibili all’orizzonte verso occidente. Airdí Cuan racconta del suo amore per Glendun e del gioco dell’hurling a Natale sulla spiaggia di Cushendun. Altri credono che, mentre McCambridge stava pensando di emigrare al Mull di Kintyre, si trovava in cima ad Ardicoan e si immaginava a Kintyre mentre guardava verso la sua terra nativa. Orbene il processo di scrittura della canzone lo ha reso così nostalgico, che alla fine ha deciso di non andare, e così ha trascorso il resto dei suoi giorni in Irlanda!]

Eamonn ó Faogáin live

Celtic Tradition in “An Irish Christmas Album” recorded in 1987 when there was still the GDR
[Nel “An Irish Christmas Album” registrato nel 1987 quando c’era ancora la DDR]

Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill & Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill

Ciara McCrickard


Anúna in Omnis  1996 (III, I)

Maggie Boyle in Patriot Games 1992 in Reaching Out

I
Dá mbeinn féin in Airdí Cuan (1)
in aice an tsléibhe úd ‘tá i bhfad uaim
b’annamh liom gan dul ar cuairt
go Gleann na gCuach (2) Dé Domhnaigh.
Curfá:
agus och, och Éire ‘lig is ó
Éire lonndubh (3) agus ó
is é mo chroí ‘tá trom is é brónach.
II
Is iomaí Nollaig ‘bhí mé féin
i mbun abhann Doinne (4) is mé gan chéill
ag iomáin ar an trá bhán
is mo chamán bán i mo dhorn liom (5).
III
Nach tuirseach mise anseo liom féin
nach n-airím guth coiligh, londubh nó traon,
gealbhán, smaolach, naoscach féin,
is chan aithním féin an Domhnach.
IV
Dá mbeadh agam féin ach coit is rámh
nó go n-iomarfainn ar an tsnámh
ag dúil as Dia go sroichfinn slán
is go bhfaighinn bás in Éirinn.


I
If I were in Airdí Cuan (1)
beside that mountain far from me,
it would be seldom I would not go visiting
to Gleann na gCuach(2) on a Sunday
Chorus:
And oh, oh, Ireland, ‘lig is ó
Blackbird (3) Ireland and ó
and my heart it is heavy and sorrowful
II
It’s often in a Christmas Day I was
in Cushendun (4)
and me without sense
hurling on the white strand
and my hurling stick in my fist (5)
III
Aren’t I tired here alone
That I don’t hear the voice of a cockerel, blackbird, or corncrake
sparrow, thrush, snipe (6)
and I don’t even know when it’s Sunday (7)
IV
If only I had a boat and oar
so that I may row on the water
desiring of God that may I reach safety
and that I may die in Ireland
 Traduzione italiano di Cattia Salto
I
Se fossi a  Articoan
accanto a quella montagna che (ora) è lontana
raramente non andrei a visitare
il Glendun di domenica
Coro
e oh, oh, Irlanda, ‘lig is ó
merlo d’Irlanda e ó
e il mio cuore è affranto
II
Spesso a Natale ero
a Cushendun,
spensierato,
a giocare a hurling sulla spiaggia
con la mia mazza in pugno
III
Non sono infelice, qui da solo
dove non riesco a sentire il canto della beccaccia, del merlo, del re di quaglie,
del passero, del tordo e del beccaccino
e nemmeno so quando è domenica?
IV
Se solo avessi una barca e remi
così da vogare sulle acque
e Dio volendo arrivare sano e salvo
e poter morire in Irlanda!


NOTE
* in the blog of Dónal Kearney there are two translations in English, one literal and the other more poetic. here is the most literal translation, while for my translation into Italian I made a summary of the two translations [nel blog di Dónal Kearney ci sono due traduzioni in inglese, una letterale e l’altra più poetica. qui si riporta la traduzione più letterale, mentre per la mia traduzione in italiano ho fatto un compendio delle due traduzioni]
1) Articoan is located above Knocknacry; between Cushendall and Cushendun at the northeast corner of County Antrim in Northern Ireland [Articoan si trova sopra Knocknacry; tra Cushendall e Cushendun all’angolo nord-est della contea di Antrim nell’Irlanda del Nord]
2) Glendun: Glen of the Dun river or Brown Glen is one of the famous Glens of Antrim [Glendun: Glen of the Dun river o Brown Glen  è uno dei famosi Glens di Antrim]
3)
Agus och, och Éire ‘lig is ó
Éire lionn dubh orm is ó
(And oh Ireland, all of Ireland
Ireland who I miss
4) Cushendun is a picturesque Cornish style village built specifically for his wife by Lord Cushendun [Cushendun un pittoresco villaggio in stile cornovaglia fatto costruire appositamente da Lord Cushendun per la moglie.]
5) the hurling game is an Irish national sport; the day mentioned in the song is the Boxing day or December 26, the day dedicated to outdoor activities in the British Isles
[il gioco dell’hurling è uno sport nazionale irlandese che si gioca con mazza e palla: il giorno citato nella canzone è il Boxing day ovvero il 26 dicembre, il giorno consacrato per le attività all’aperto che nelle Isole Britanniche è dedicato allo sport.]
6) as in ancient Gaelic chants the birds are part of the healing process of the soul [come negli antichi canti in gaelico gli uccelli sono parte del processo di guarigione dell’anima]
7) the question is a rhetorical figure: “Sunday has no meaning for me without these things” [la domanda è una figura retorica:  la domenica è per me priva di significato, valore senza queste cose]

 

The song was also recorded as “The Land of Erin” by Mairí Ní She & Katie McMahon and “River of Live” by Pól Brennan, Guo Yue & Joji Hirota and Tristan.
[Il brano è anche stato registrato con il titolo di The Land of Erin da Mairí Ní She & Katie McMahon e con il titolo di River of Live da Pól Brennan, Guo Yue & Joji Hirota e da Tristan.]

The Quiet Land of Erin

The song was written into English for some recordings as “The Quiet Land of Erin” in the 1930s.
[Il brano è stato versificato in inglese con il titolo di The Quiet Land of Erin. per alcune registrazioni negli anni 1930]
The Corries

Sandy Denny 1968

and for lovers of bel canto
[e per gli amanti del bel canto]
The Celtic Tenors


Joan O’Hara version
I
By myself I’d be in Ard Ti Chuain
Where the mountains stand away
And ‘tis there I’d let the Sundays pass (go)
In a quiet (cuckoo’s) glen above the bay
(chorus)
agus och och Eire lig is o
Eire leanndubh agus o
The quiet land of Erin
II
But my heart is weary all alone
And it sends a lonely cry
To the land that sings above (beyond) my dreams
And the lonely Sundays pass me by.
III
I would travel back the twisted years
Through (in) the bitter wasted wind
If the Lord (God) above would let me lie
In a quiet place above the whins.

Seán Ó Gallochoir version
I
I wish I were in Ardti Cuan
Near yon mountain far away.
I would seldom let the Sunday go
From the Cuckoo’s glen across the bay.
Chorus:
And it’s oh dear Ireland, you’re my home!
Far from you I had to roam
And so my heart is sore and heavy.
II
It is many a Christmas Day I had
In Cushendun while still a lad;
Hurling on the White Shore Strand
With my good ash hurley in my hand.
III
But the grave is waiting for us all;
The whole wide world must heed its call.
It steals the mother from her brood
As it stole away my boyhood.
IV
If I only had a boat and oar,
I would row to Erin’s shore
Trusting God to see me o’er
In time to die in Ireland.
 Traduzione in italiano Cattia Salto
versione di Joan O’Hara
I
Per me vorrei essere a Articoan
le cui montagne si stagliano in lontananza
è lì che passerei le domeniche
in una valle tranquilla sopra la baia
Coro
agus och och Eire lig is o
Eire leanndubh agus o
la bella terra di Erin
II
Ma il mio cuore è stanco del suo esilio
e grida solitario
alla terra che canta oltre i miei sogni
e le domeniche solitarie scivolano via.
III
Viaggerei indietro negli anni piegati
dal vento amaro della desolazione (1)
se il Signore in Cielo mi accoglierà
in un bel posto nella brughiera

versione di Seán Ó Gallochoir
I
Vorrei essere a Articoan
accanto a quella montagna in lontananza
raramente non andrei a visitare di domenica
la valle del Cuculo al di là della baia
Coro
E’ così cara Irlanda, tu sei la mia casa!
Lontano da te ho dovuto peregrinare
e così il mio cuore è afflitto
II
Sono molti i giorni di Natale che ho vissuto
a Cushendun quando ero ancora un ragazzo
a giocare ad hurling sulla Spiaggia Bianca
con la mia bella mazza in mano
III
Ma la tomba attende tutti
l’intero mondo deve ubbidire al suo richiamo.
Ruba la madre dalla sua nidiata
come ha rubato la mia giovinezza.
IV
Se avessi solo una barca a remi
vogherei alla riva d’Erin
confidando che Dio mi protegga
per morire infine in Irlanda

NOTE
1) ho tradotto un po’ liberamente il verso, credo si riferisca ai duri e amari anni della carestia quando molti Irlandesi hanno dovuto abbandonare la loro terra per non morire di fame

LINK
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=10469
https://mainlynorfolk.info/sandy.denny/songs/thequietlandoferin.html
https://songoftheisles.com/2013/05/31/aird-ui-chuain/
https://durrushistory.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/a-history-of-protestant-irish-speakers.pdf
https://songsinirish.com/aird-a-chuamhaing-anam-lyrics/
http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/anam/aird.htm
http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/mcmahon/land.htm
http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/trisan/river.htm
http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/domhnaill/aird.htm
http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/anuna/ardaigh.htm
http://www.irishbodhrans.com/news/read/7/very-old-poem-about-cushendun-by-john-mccambridge
https://www.donalkearney.com/blog/airdi-cuan

Banks of Newfoundland sea shanty

Leggi in italiano

There are several sea songs entitled “the Banks of Newfoundland”, not to be properly considered variations on the same melody, even if they share a common theme, the dangers of fishing or navigation offshore of Newfoundland.

As a first approach I classified the titles on the first verse and grouped a first block.

  • Me bully boys of Liverpool
  • O you western ocean labourers
  • Come all me lads and fair young maids

Me bully boys o’ Liverpool

Probably the best known version of “the Banks of Newfoundland”, describing the dangers of winter navigation in the North Atlantic.
The incipit is as a warning song directed to the “bully boys” of Liverpool (or Belfast according to the Irish Rovers version): they are mostly Irish workers of the mid-nineteenth century who let themselves be attracted by the short engagement time on an Atlantic line ship without realizing the hard working conditions (see the Black Ball Line study)
The ballad perhaps began in Ireland as a broadside, but it became popular as forebitter song (or capstan shanty) on the sailing ships carrying emigrants from Britain to America during the 19th century, and was preserved by maritime singers in both Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

Black Ball Line clipper in a strong wind: the largest sails have been reefed, and the highest sails closed

Ewan MacColl & A. L. Lloyd from Blow Boys Blow, 1957
Lloyd notes “In winter, the westward run from Liverpool to New York was a hard trip for packet ships, through heavy ships, contrary winds, sleet and snow. The large crews were kept busy reefing as the gales increased or piling on canvas whenever the wind abated.  The Banks of Newfoundland sets out the picture of a hard Western Ocean crossing before the days of steam.” (from here)

Great Big Sea (from I to III, V,  see) same melody but marching trend

I
Me bully boys o’ Liverpool,
I’ll have you to beware,
When ye sail in the packet ship (1),
no dungaree jumpers wear (2);
But have a big monkey jacket (3)
all ready to your hand,
For there blows some cold nor’westers (4)/on the Banks of Newfoundland!
Chorus
We’ll scrape her and we’ll scrub her
With holystone and sand (5),
And we think of them cold nor’westers
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
II
There was Jack Lynch from Ballynahinch,
Mike Murphy and some more (6),
I tell ye where, they suffered like hell
on the way to Baltimore;
They pawned (7) their gear in Liverpool
and they sailed as they did stand,
there blows some cold nor’westers
on the Banks of Newfoundland.
III
The mate he stood on the fo’c’sle (8) head, and loudly he did roar:
“Now rattle (9) her in, my lucky lads!
We’re bound for America’s shore!
Go wash the mud off that dead-man’s face
and heave to beat the band (10),
For there blows some cold nor’westers
on the Banks of Newfoundland!”		 IV
So now it’s reef and reef (11), me boys,
with the canvas frozen hard,
And it’s mount and pass (12) every mother’s son
on a ninety-foot tops’l yard.
Never mind about boots and oilskins,
but haul or you’ll be damned!
For there blows some cold nor’westers
on the Banks of Newfoundland.
V
And now we’re off the Hook (12), me boys,
and the lands are white with snow,
But soon we’ll see the pay table
and have all night below;
And on the docks, come down in flocks,
them pretty girls will stand,
Saying, “It’s snugger with me
than it is at sea on the Banks of Newfoundland.”

NOTES
1) “Packet ships” used to carry mail from Britain to America.
2) dungaree (dungeon ) jumper, jacket= denim jacket
3) “monkey jacket” because of its resemblance to the short jacket of the trained monkeys, it was a short, close-fitting wool jacket with double-breasted and pewter buttons favored by sailors; we find the term in Melville “no more monkey jackets and tarpaulins for me”. Yet even the toughest woolen jacket was not free to become soaking wet under a storm. For these sailors waterproofed their clothes, shoes and hair with resinous substances
4) the wind that blows from NW pushes in the South-East direction, in the wind rose it is called the Mistral wind
5) the maintenance work of the hull is carried out in the dry dock, where the ship is taken to dryness, but not having a special port basin the ship was pulled to shore at high tide and made to lay on its side
6) the crews of the Atlantic packet ships were for the most part Irish
7)  as Italo Ottonello teaches us “At the signing of the recruitment contract for long journeys, the sailors received an advance equal to three months of pay which, to guarantee compliance with the contract, it was provided in the form of “I will pay”, payable three days after the ship left the port, “as long as said sailor has sailed with that ship.” Everyone invariably ran to look for some complacent sharks who bought their promissory note at a discounted price, usually of forty percent, with much of the amount provided in kind. “The purchasers, boarding agents and various procurers,” the enlisters, “as they were nicknamed,” were induced to ‘seize’ the sailors and bring them on board, drunk or drugged, with little or no clothes beyond what they were wearing, and squandering or stealing all sailor advances.
8) “Fo’c’sle” is a contraction of “fore castle” (fore = foreward), the living quarters inside the hull of a ship.
9) In Dana Rattle down, Rattle up
10) “to beat the band” = very briskly; very fast; or “to beat all” in the sense of “doing your best” but also excelling with other clippers, especially with regard to navigation times (see here)
11) Written incorrectly as “reef and reif”: To “reef” sail is to furl and lash it to the “topsl yard” or any other yard. The crew did this while standing on a single line which they would “mount” and sometimes “pass” another shipmate to do the job.
12)  Mudcat “Mount and Pass meaning to go out on the yard (the rope is called a stirrup hence the “mount”) and pass canvas as its reefed up”
13) “The Hook” is a reference to Sandy Hook in the Long Island sound

O you western ocean labourers

The second version shares a text similar to the first one, with different melody, but resumes part of the transportation song Van Diemen’s Land.  (British broadside ballad [Laws K25] for variant see here, here)

Siobhan Miller from Strata 2017 (I, II, IV, V)

Teyn from Far From The Tree 2016 ♪ they follow the traditional text spread in Cornwall, with an instrumental arrangement all of their own. Reported by John Farr’s testimony of Gwithian on the north coast of Cornwall, in Canow Kernow (Cornwall songs full text here)

I
O you western ocean labourers
I’ll have you all beware (1),
when you’re working on a packet ship no dungaree oil skin (2) wear.
But have a big monkey jacket
already at your command
and I’ll bid  farewell to the Virgin rocks (3)/On the Banks of Newfoundland.
Chorus:
We’ll rub (scrape) her and scrub her
With holy stone and sand,
And we’ll bid farewell to the virgin rocks On the Banks of Newfoundland.
II
As I lay on my bunk one night
a’dreaming all alone.
I dreamt I was in Liverpool
‘way up by Marylebone (4),
With my true love there beside me
and a jug of ale in my hand,
But I woke quite brokenhearted, boys on the Banks of Newfoundland.
III (5)
We had one Lynch from Ballinahinch,
Jimmy Murphy and Mike Moore;
It was in the winter of sixty-two,
Those sea-boys suffered sore,
For they’d pawned their clothes in Liverpool,
And sold them out of hand (6),
Not thinking of the cold Northwesters
On the Banks of Newfoundland		 IV (7)
We had one female passenger,
Bridget Riley was her name,
she was fourteen years transported boy for playing not the game (8)
But she tore up her flannel petticoats To make mittens for our hands,
For she couldn’t see the poor boys freeze
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
V
And now we’re off Sandy Hook, my boys,
And the land’s all covered with snow,.
The tug-boat take up our hawser
And for New York we will tow;
And when we get to the Black Ball dock,
All the boys and girls there will stand, for if we are here we cannot be there on the Banks of Newfoundland.

NOTES
1) or “Ye rambling boys of Erin, ye rambling boys, beware” (see)
2) dungaree jumpers
3) or “For there blows some cold Northwesters”.Virgin Rocks are a series of rocky ridges just below the surface of the ocean on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland
4) Marylebone – an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St Marylebone (or, archaically, Mary-le-bone). Marylebone is roughly bounded by Oxford Street to the south, Marylebone Road to the north, Edgware Road to the west and Great Portland Street to the east. A broader definition designates the historic area as Marylebone Village and encompasses neighbouring Regent’s Park, Baker Street and the area immediately north of Marylebone Road, containing Marylebone Station, the original site of the Marylebone Cricket Club at Dorset Square, and the neighbourhood known as Lisson Grove as far as the border with St John’s Wood. The area east of Great Portland Street up to Cleveland Street, known as Fitzrovia since the 1940s, is considered historically to be East Marylebone. (tratto da qui)
5) the Teyn line:
We had Jack Lynch from Ballinahinch
Mike Murphy and some more
And I’ll tell you boys they suffered like hell
On the way to Baltimore
For they’d pawned their gear in Liverpool
And sailed as they did stand
For they’d pawned their gear in Liverpool
Not thinking of Newfoundland
6)  “They pawned their clothes in Liverpool and sold their notes of hand”
7) the Teyn line:
Well we had one female passenger
Bridget Reilly was her name
Unto her I had promised marriage
And on me she had claim
For she tore up all her petticoats
To make mittens for my hands
Saying I can’t see my true love freeze
On the Banks of the Newfoundland,
8)  “Play the Game” it means taking risks, not following the rules; probably refers to poaching, among the reasons for deportation to the penal colonies of Australia

Stan Hugill version: capstan shanty

Again thanks to the meticulous work of Hulton Clint (or Ranzo, nicknamed the YouTube chanteyman, from Hartford, Connecticut) that gives us back the sea shanty version as reported by Stan Hugill, an obvious parody of the sea shanty Van Diemen’s Land. In  “Shanties from the Seven Seas” Hugill writes: “Still in the realms of convict ships and transportation, we have next the old forebitter often used as a capstan song, The Banks of Newf’n’land. Its convict connection is the fact that it was really a parody of an older forebitter, itself originally a shore ballad called Van Diemen’s Land, a song often sung in Liverpool and as a forebitter often heard in Liverpool ships. A note attached to the record The Singing Sailor states that “Versions can still be heard in Scotland and Ireland, but it is in Liverpool and Salford (Lancs.) that the song lives most vigorously”. It tells of the sufferings of poachers transported to Van Diemen’s Land.”

I
Ye ramblin’ boys o’ Liverpool,
ye sailor men beware,
When you go in a Yankee packet ship, no dungaree jumpers wear;
But have a monkey jacket
all up to your command,
For there blows some cold nor’westers
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
Coro
We’ll wash her and we’ll scrub her down
With holystone and sand,
And we’ll bid adieu to the Virgin Rocks
And the Banks of Newfoundland.
II
We had one Lynch from Ballynahinch, Spud Murphy and Mike Moore,
‘Twas in the winter of seventy-three those sea-boys suffered sore;
They popped their clothes in Liverpool, sold them all out of hand,
Not thinkin’ on the cold nor’winds,
On the Banks of Newfoundland.		 III
We had a lady fair aboard,
Kate Connor was her name,
To her I promised marriage, and on me she had a claim;
She tore up her flannel petticoats to make mittens for my hands,
For she could not see her true love freeze
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
IV
I dreamed a dream the other night,
and I thought I was at home,
Alongside of my own true love,
and she in Marybone (1);
A jug of ale all on my knee, a glass of ale in hand,
But when I woke, my heart was broke
On the Banks of Newfoundland.

NOTES
1) Liverpool’s popular district

DANCE TUNE

Come all me lads and fair young maids

Another melody for the version without refrain that shows the process of transformation through the oral tradition of a text that changes as time passes and situations. Sometimes considered as a song distinct from the previous ones referring to work on fishing vessels.
Pete Shepheard from They Smiled As We Cam In, 2018 ♪
who noted : This is one of my favourite songs and I seem never to have tired of it since I first recorded it from St Andrews fisherman Tom Gordon in 1964. He learned it in turn from a man who had sailed on the whaler fleet out of Leith in the early 1900s. This is the only version I have come across that is modernised into the steam boat era – and incidentally dated in the text to 1906.

Matthew Byrne live, instrumental arrangement by Matthew Byrne & Billy Sutton

I
Come all me lads and fair young maids, come all ye sports beware,
when you go steamboat sailing,
no dungaree jackets wear;
And always wear a life belt,
or keep it close at hand,
there blows a cold nor-westerly wind on the Banks of Newfoundland.
II
We had on board some passengers
the Swedies and some more
’Twas in the year of nineteen-six that we did suffer sore,
We pawned our clothes in Liverpool, we pawned them every hand,
not thinking of the nor-westerly winds on the Banks of Newfoundland.
III
And we had on board a fair young maid, Bridget Wellford was her name,
To her I promised marriage
and a pawn she had a claim ;
She tore her flannel petticoats
to make mittens for my hands,
she would not see her true love perish on the Banks of Newfoundland.		 IV
Last night as I lay in my bunch I dream a pleasent dream,
that I was back in Scotland beside a flowing stream;
with the girl I love on my knee and a bottle in my hand,
I woke up broken hearted
on the Banks of Newfoundland.
V
Now we’re bound for Sandy Bay
where the high hills covered in snow,
Our steam boat she’s so hell-of-a fast, by New York we will go;
We’ll scrub her up and we’ll scrub her down with holystone and sand,
And we’ll bid adieu to the Virgin Rocks and the Banks of Newfoundland.

NOTES
*text taken partly from the version of Pete Shepheard  here

transportation song
working on a  fisher ship
the Eastern Light
captain’s death (american ballad)
shipwreck and rescue on the Banks (Canadian ballad)

 

LINK
https://www.irishtune.info/tune/118/
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-banks-of-newfoundland-emc/
http://www.boundingmain.com/lyrics/bnk_newfoundland.htm
https://mainlynorfolk.info/martin.carthy/songs/banksofnewfoundland.html
https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/The-Paul-McKenna-Band/The-Banks-of-Newfoundland

http://gestsongs.com/01/banks1.htm
http://gestsongs.com/01/banks3.htm
http://gestsongs.com/02/banks5.htm
https://www.springthyme.co.uk/1042/42_09.htm

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=44529
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=17059
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130147

 

On the Banks of Newfoundland

Read the post in English

Ci sono parecchie  sea songs dal titolo “the Banks of Newfoundland”,  da non considerarsi propriamente come variazioni su una stessa melodia, anche se condividono un tema comune, i pericoli della pesca o della navigazione al largo di Terranova.

Come primo approccio ho classificato i titoli in base al primo verso e raggruppato un primo blocco.

  • Me bully boys of Liverpool
  • O you western ocean labourers
  • Come all me lads and fair young maids

Me bully boys o’ Liverpool

Probabilmente la versione più conosciuta di “the Banks of Newfoundland”, in cui si descrivono i pericoli della navigazione invernale nell’Atlantico del Nord.
L’incipit è quello di una warning song diretta ai “bravi ragazzi” di Liverpool (o di Belfast secondo la versione degli Irish Rovers), sono per lo più lavoratori irlandesi di metà Ottocento che si lasciano attrarre dal breve tempo d’ingaggio su una nave di linea nella tratta atlantica senza rendersi conto delle dure condizioni di lavoro (vedasi per l’approfondimento Black Ball Line)
La ballata ebbe forse inizio in Irlanda come broadside, ma diventò popolare come forebitter song (o capstan shanty) sulle packet ships nella tratta Liverpool-New York, che passava accanto alle coste dell’isola di Terranova, collezionata infine nei repertori folk di Terranova e Nuova Scozia.

Clipper della Black Ball Line con il forte vento: le vele più grandi sono state terzarolate, e le vele più alte chiuse

Ewan MacColl & A. L. Lloyd in Blow Boys Blow, 1957
Lloyd scrive “In inverno, la rotta verso ovest da Liverpool a New York era un viaggio difficile per le navi di linea, con navi pesanti, venti contrari, nevischio e neve. Gli equipaggi di grandi dimensioni erano impegnati a fare serrare le vele quando il vento aumentavano o a distendere tela ogni volta che il vento diminuiva. Le rive di Terranova danno l’immagine di una dura traversata dell’Oceano Occidentale prima dei giorni di vapore.” (tratto da qui)

Great Big Sea (strofe da I a III, V, testo qui) stessa melodia ma andamento da marcia


I
Me bully boys o’ Liverpool,
I’ll have you to beware,
When ye sail in the packet ship (1),
no dungaree jumpers wear (2);
But have a big monkey jacket (3)
all ready to your hand,
For there blows some cold nor’westers (4)/on the Banks of Newfoundland!
Chorus
We’ll scrape her and we’ll scrub her
With holystone and sand (5),
And we think of them cold nor’westers
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
II
There was Jack Lynch from Ballynahinch,
Mike Murphy and some more (6),
I tell ye where, they suffered like hell
on the way to Baltimore;
They pawned (7) their gear in Liverpool
and they sailed as they did stand,
there blows some cold nor’westers
on the Banks of Newfoundland.
III
The mate he stood on the fo’c’sle (8) head, and loudly he did roar:
“Now rattle (9) her in, my lucky lads!
We’re bound for America’s shore!
Go wash the mud off that dead-man’s face
and heave to beat the band (10),
For there blows some cold nor’westers
on the Banks of Newfoundland!”
IV
So now it’s reef and reef (11), me boys,
with the canvas frozen hard,
And it’s mount and pass (12) every mother’s son
on a ninety-foot tops’l yard.
Never mind about boots and oilskins,
but haul or you’ll be damned!
For there blows some cold nor’westers
on the Banks of Newfoundland.
V
And now we’re off the Hook (12), me boys,
and the lands are white with snow,
But soon we’ll see the pay table
and have all night below;
And on the docks, come down in flocks,
them pretty girls will stand,
Saying, “It’s snugger with me
than it is at sea on the Banks of Newfoundland.”
 Traduzione italiana Cattia Salto
I
Miei bravacci di Liverpool
vi devo avvertire
quando vi imbarcate su di un postale di linea, non indossate una giacchetta di jeans ma tenete a portata di mano una giacca da scimmia,
perchè là soffiano dei freddi  venti da nord-ovest sui Banchi di Terranova!
Coro
La raschieremo e la strofineremo
con la pietra pomice e la sabbia
e penseremo a quei venti freddi di maestrale sui Banchi di Terranova
II
C’erano Jack Lynch
di Ballynahinch,
Mike Murphy e altri ancora;
ti dico come patirono le pene d’inferno
sulla rotta per Baltimora;
avevano preso in pegno la loro attrezzatura a Liverpool
e si misero in mare proprio quando
soffiano i venti freddi di maestrale
sui Banchi di Terranova
III
L’ufficiale stava in cima al castello di prua e forte tuonava
“Ora salite, ragazzi fortunati!
siamo diretti verso la terra d’America!
Andate a lavare via il fango da quella faccia da morto
e manovrate al meglio
perchè là soffiano dei venti freddi da nord-ovest sui Banchi di Terranova”
IV
Quindi ora si riducono le vele, ragazzi, con la tela ghiacciata indurita
è un piegare e passare a ogni figlio di buona madre, sul pennone di gabbia a novanta piedi.
Non preoccupatevi di stivali e cerate,
ma issate o sarete dannati!
perchè là soffiano dei venti freddi da nord-ovest sui Banchi di Terranova
V
E ora siamo al largo di Sandy Hook, ragazzi miei,
e le terre sono bianche come neve,
Ma presto vedremo la tabella dei pagamenti e passeremo tutta la notte a terra; e sul molo, arriveranno a stormi,
quelle  belle ragazzine,
a dire: “È meglio accoccolarsi con me
che essere in mare
sui Banchi di Terranova “

NOTE
1) “Packet ships” postali perchè navi utilizzate per trasportare la posta tra Gran Bretagna e America
2) dungaree (dungeon ) jumper, jacket= denim jacket
3) letteralmente “giacca da scimmia” per la sua somiglianza con la giacca corta delle scimmie ammaestrate, era una giacca di lana corta e aderente con doppio petto e bottoni in peltro prediletta dai marinai; troviamo il termine in Melville “no more monkey jackets and tarpaulins for me“. Eppure anche la più robusta giacca di lana non era esente da diventare bagnata fradicia sotto una tempesta. Per questi impermeabilizzavano vestiti, scarpe e capelli con sostanze resinose
4) il vento che soffia da NW spinge in direzione Sud-Est, nella rosa dei venti è detto maestrale
5) i lavori di manutenzione dello scafo sono eseguiti nel bacino di carenaggio, dove la nave viene portata a secco , non disponendo di un apposito bacino portuale la nave era tirata a riva durante l’alta marea e fatta adagiare su un fianco: all’operazione di raschiatura dell’opera viva si accompagnava il calatafaggio, l’operazione consisteva nel cacciare a forza stoppa e pece nelle fessure tra le tavole di legname per rendere stagno lo scafo.
6) gli equipaggi delle packet ships che facevano la spola tra Liverpool-New York erano per la maggior parte irlandesi
7) come ci insegna Italo Ottonello ” All’atto della firma del contratto d’arruolamento per i viaggi di lungo corso, i marinai ricevevano un anticipo pari a tre mesi di paga che, a garanzia del rispetto del contratto, era erogato in forma di pagherò, esigibile tre giorni dopo che la nave aveva lasciato il porto, “sempre che detto marinaio sia salpato con detta nave”. Tutti, invariabilmente, correvano a cercare qualche ‘squalo’ compiacente che comprasse il loro pagherò ad un valore scontato, di solito del quaranta per cento, con molta parte dell’importo fornito in natura. Gli acquirenti, procuratori d’imbarco e procacciatori vari, – gli ‘arruolatori’, com’erano soprannominati – erano indotti a ‘sequestrare’ i marinai e portarli a bordo, ubriachi o drogati, con poco o niente vestiario oltre quello che avevano indosso, e sperperare o rubare loro tutto l’anticipo.
8) “Fo’c’sle” è una contrazione di “fore castle” (fore = foreward)
9) In Dana scendere  verso il basso. Rattle down. A salire. Rattle up
10) “to beat the band” è un’espressione americana che trae origine dall’iberno-inglese = very briskly; very fast; potrebbe anche significare “to beat all” nel senso di “fare del proprio meglio” ma anche di eccellere rispetto agli altri clipper delle altre compagnie, soprattutto in merito ai tempi di navigazione (sull’origine del termine qui)
11)  scritto erroneamente come “reef and reif”
12) trovato su Mudcat “Mount and Pass meaning to go out on the yard (the rope is called a stirrup hence the “mount”) and pass canvas as its reefed up”
13) “The Hook”= Sandy Hook 

O you western ocean labourers

La seconda versione condivide un testo simile alla prima, con una diversa melodia, ma riprende parte del testo della transportation song Van Diemen’s Land.  (British broadside ballad [Laws K25] per le varianti vedi qui, qui)

Siobhan Miller in Strata 2017 (I, II, IV, V)

Teyn in Far From The Tree 2016 ♪ seguono il testo tradizionale  diffuso in Cornovaglia, con un arrangiamento strumentale tutto loro. Riportato dalla testimonianza di John Farr di Gwithian sulla costa nord della Cornovaglia, in Canow Kernow (in italiano Canti della Cornovaglia (testo completo qui)


I
O you western ocean labourers
I’ll have you all beware (1),
when you’re working on a packet ship no dungaree oil skin (2) wear.
But have a big monkey jacket
already at your command
and I’ll bid  farewell to the Virgin rocks (3)/On the Banks of Newfoundland.
Chorus:
We’ll rub (scrape) her and scrub her
With holy stone and sand,
And we’ll bid farewell to the virgin rocks On the Banks of Newfoundland.
II
As I lay on my bunk one night
a’dreaming all alone.
I dreamt I was in Liverpool
‘way up by Marylebone (4),
With my true love there beside me
and a jug of ale in my hand,
But I woke quite brokenhearted, boys on the Banks of Newfoundland.
III (5)
We had one Lynch from Ballinahinch,
Jimmy Murphy and Mike Moore;
It was in the winter of sixty-two,
Those sea-boys suffered sore,
For they’d pawned their clothes in Liverpool,
And sold them out of hand (6),
Not thinking of the cold Northwesters
On the Banks of Newfoundland
IV (7)
We had one female passenger,
Bridget Riley was her name,
she was fourteen years transported boy for playing not the game (8)
But she tore up her flannel petticoats To make mittens for our hands,
For she couldn’t see the poor boys freeze
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
V
And now we’re off Sandy Hook, my boys,
And the land’s all covered with snow,.
The tug-boat take up our hawser
And for New York we will tow;
And when we get to the Black Ball dock,
All the boys and girls there will stand, for if we are here we cannot be there on the Banks of Newfoundland.
 Traduzione italiana Cattia Salto
I
O voi lavoratori transatlantici
vi devo avvertire
quando vi imbarcate su di un postale di linea, niente giacca cerata
ma tenete a portata di mano una giacca da scimmia,
e dirò addio alle Virgin Rocks sui Banchi di Terranova!
Coro
La raschieremo e la strofineremo
con la pietra pomice e la sabbia
e diremo addio alle Virgin Rocks
sui Banchi di Terranova
II
Una notte che stavo nella mia cuccetta
dormivo tutto solo.
Ho sognato di essere a Liverpool
laggiù a Marylebone,
con il mio vero amore accanto a me
e una brocca di birra in mano,
ma mi svegliai con il cuore afflitto, ragazzi sui Banchi di Terranova.
III
C’era un Lynch da Ballinahinch,
Jimmy Murphy e Mike Moore;
era nell’inverno del sessantadue,
quei marinai soffrirono assai,
perché avevano impegnato i loro vestiti a Liverpool,
e li hanno venduti senza discussioni,
senza pensare al freddo maestrale
sui Banchi di Terranova
IV
Abbiamo avuto un passeggero femmina, si chiamava Bridget Riley
aveva un ragazzo di quattordici anni mandato alle colonie penali per non aver seguito le regole, ma lei stracciò le sue sottane di flanella per fare guanti per le nostre mani, perché non riusciva  vedere i ragazzi poveri congelarsi
sui Banchi di Terranova.
V
E ora siamo al largo di Sandy Hook,
ragazzi,
e la terra è tutta coperta di neve,
il rimorchiatore prese la nostra gomena e ci trascinò a New York;
e quando arriveremo al molo della Black Ball,
sarà pieno di ragazzi e  ragazze, perché se siamo qui non possiamo essere là
sui Banchi di Terranova

NOTE
1) il verso d’inizio è anche “Ye rambling boys of Erin, ye rambling boys, beware” (vedi testo)
2) dungaree jumpers
3) oppure”For there blows some cold Northwesters”. Le Virgin Rocks sono una serie di creste rocciose appena sotto la superficie dell’oceano sui Grandi Banchi di Terranova
4) Marylebone – una ricca area del centro di Londra, situata all’interno della città di Westminster. A volte è scritto come St Marylebone (o, arcaicamente, Mary-le-bone). Marylebone è approssimativamente delimitata da Oxford Street a sud, Marylebone Road a nord, Edgware Road a ovest e Great Portland Street a est. Una definizione più ampia indica l’area storica come Marylebone Village e comprende il vicino Regent’s Park, Baker Street e l’area immediatamente a nord di Marylebone Road, che contiene Marylebone Station, il sito originario del Marylebone Cricket Club a Dorset Square e il quartiere noto come Lisson Grove fino al confine con St John’s Wood. L’area ad est di Great Portland Street fino a Cleveland Street, conosciuta come Fitzrovia dagli anni ’40, è considerata storicamente East Marylebone. (tratto da qui)
5) I Teyn dicono:
We had Jack Lynch from Ballinahinch
Mike Murphy and some more
And I’ll tell you boys they suffered like hell
On the way to Baltimore
For they’d pawned their gear in Liverpool
And sailed as they did stand
For they’d pawned their gear in Liverpool
Not thinking of Newfoundland
6) la frase in origine doveva essere  “They pawned their clothes in Liverpool and sold their notes of hand” (impegnarono il loro anticipo e vendettero i loro pagherò)
7) una diversa versione dei Teyn
Well we had one female passenger
Bridget Reilly was her name
Unto her I had promised marriage
And on me she had claim
For she tore up all her petticoats
To make mittens for my hands
Saying I can’t see my true love freeze
On the Banks of the Newfoundland,
8)  “Play the Game” vuol dire prendersi dei rischi, non seguire le regole; si riferisce probabilmente alla caccia di frodo, tra i motivi di deportazione nelle colonie penali d’Australia

La versione di Stan Hugill: capstan shanty

Ancora grazie al meticoloso lavoro di Hulton Clint (o Ranzo soprannominato  lo YouTube chanteyman, da Hartford, Connecticut) che ci restituisce la versione sea shanty così come riportata da Stan Hugill, una evidente parodia della sea shanty Van Diemen’s Land come pubblicato nel suo “Shanties from the Seven Seas” che così scrive in merito: “Ancora nei regni delle navi e dei trasporti forzati, abbiamo la prossima  vecchia  forebitter usata spesso come capstan song, The Banks of Newf’n’land. Il suo riferimento al trasporto forzoso è il fatto di essere una parodia di una vecchia  forebitter, originariamente una ballad  dal titolo Van Diemen’s Land, una canzone spesso cantata a Liverpool e come forebitter spesso ascoltata nelle navi di Liverpool. Una nota allegata al disco The Singing Sailor afferma che “Le versioni possono ancora essere ascoltate in Scozia e in Irlanda, ma è a Liverpool e Salford (Lancs.) che la canzone è più radicata”. Racconta delle sofferenze dei bracconieri trasportati nella terra di Van Diemen.”


I
Ye ramblin’ boys o’ Liverpool,
ye sailor men beware,
When you go in a Yankee packet ship, no dungaree jumpers wear;
But have a monkey jacket
all up to your command,
For there blows some cold nor’westers
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
Coro
We’ll wash her and we’ll scrub her down
With holystone and sand,
And we’ll bid adieu to the Virgin Rocks (1)
And the Banks of Newfoundland.
II
We had one Lynch from Ballynahinch, Spud Murphy and Mike Moore,
‘Twas in the winter of seventy-three those sea-boys suffered sore;
They popped their clothes in Liverpool, sold them all out of hand,
Not thinkin’ on the cold nor’winds,
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
III
We had a lady fair aboard,
Kate Connor was her name,
To her I promised marriage, and on me she had a claim;
She tore up her flannel petticoats to make mittens for my hands,
For she could not see her true love freeze
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
IV
I dreamed a dream the other night,
and I thought I was at home,
Alongside of my own true love,
and she in Marybone (2);
A jug of ale all on my knee, a glass of ale in hand,
But when I woke, my heart was broke
On the Banks of Newfoundland.
 Traduzione italiana Cattia Salto
I
Ragazzacci di Liverpool,
voi marinai attenti
quando vi imbarcate su di un postale americano, niente giacca di pelle, ma tenete a portata di mano una giacca da scimmia,
perchè là soffiano i venti freddi di Nord-Ovest sui Banchi di Terranova!
Coro
La laveremo e la strofineremo
con la pietra pomice e la sabbia
e diremo addio alle Virgin Rocks
e ai Banchi di Terranova
II
C’era un Lynch da Ballinahinch,
“Spud” Murphy e Mike Moore;
era nell’inverno del settantatre,
quei marinai soffrirono assai,
perché avevano impegnato i loro vestiti a Liverpool, e li vendettero senza discussioni, senza pensare al freddo vento del Nord
sui Banchi di Terranova
III
Abbiamo avuto una bella signora a bordo, si chiamava Kate Connor
le promisi di sposarla e su di me aveva credito,  lei stracciò le sue sottane di flanella per farne manopole per le mie mani, perché non sopportava di  vedere congelarsi il suo vero amore
sui Banchi di Terranova
IV
Ho sognato l’altra notte
e credevo di essere a casa
accanto al mio vero amore
di Marybone,
una brocca di birra alle ginocchia e in  in mano,
ma mi svegliai con il cuore afflitto,
sui Banchi di Terranova.

NOTE
1)   i Grandi Banchi di Terranova sono un tratto di mare dal fondale basso a sud-est dell’isola canadese di Terranova, di forma grosso modo triangolare spesso sconvolto dalle tempeste, infido e pericoloso per la presenza di iceberg e la frequente nebbie. Le Virgin Rocks sono una serie di creste rocciose appena sotto la superficie dell’oceano, un’ottima  base di pesca per le golette dell’Ottocento
2) le golette da pesca uscivano in mare a maggio e non rientravano sino a settembre
2) quartiere popolare di Liverpool

LA MELODIA DA DANZA

Come all me lads and fair young maids

Altra melodia per la versione senza ritornello che mostra il processo di trasformazione attraverso la tradizione orale di un testo che muta al passare del tempo e delle situazioni. A volta considerata come un canto distinto dai precedenti riferito al lavoro sui pescherecci.
Pete Shepheard in They Smiled As We Cam In, 2018 ♪
che scrive nelle note : Questa è una delle mie canzoni preferite e non mi ha mai stancato da quando l’ho registrata per la prima volta dal pescatore di St. Andrews Tom Gordon nel 1964. L’ha imparato a sua volta da un uomo che aveva navigato sulla flotta baleniera da Leith nel primi anni del 1900. Questa è l’unica versione che ho incontrato e che è stata modernizzata nell’era delle barche a vapore – e incidentalmente datata nel testo al 1906.

Matthew Byrne live, arrangiamento strumentale Matthew Byrne & Billy Sutton


I
Come all me lads and fair young maids, come all ye sports beware,
when you go steamboat sailing,
no dungaree jackets wear;
And always wear a life belt,
or keep it close at hand,
there blows a cold nor-westerly wind on the Banks of Newfoundland.
II
We had on board some passengers
the Swedies and some more
’Twas in the year of nineteen-six that we did suffer sore,
We pawned our clothes in Liverpool, we pawned them every hand,
not thinking of the nor-westerly winds on the Banks of Newfoundland.
III
And we had on board a fair young maid, Bridget Wellford was her name,
To her I promised marriage
and a pawn she had a claim ;
She tore her flannel petticoats
to make mittens for my hands,
she would not see her true love perish on the Banks of Newfoundland.
IV
Last night as I lay in my bunch I dream a pleasent dream,
that I was back in Scotland beside a flowing stream;
with the girl I love on my knee and a bottle in my hand,
I woke up broken hearted
on the Banks of Newfoundland.
V
Now we’re bound for Sandy Bay
where the high hills covered in snow,
Our steam boat she’s so hell-of-a fast, by New York we will go;
We’ll scrub her up and we’ll scrub her down with holystone and sand,
And we’ll bid adieu to the Virgin Rocks and the Banks of Newfoundland.		 Traduzione italiana Cattia Salto
I
Venite tutti, ragazzi e ragazze giovani e gentili,  fare attenzione ai vostri passatempi, quando vi imbarcate su di un battello a vapore,  non indossate una giacchetta di jeans ma indossate sempre una cintura di salvataggio o tenetela a portata di mano dove soffiano i freddi venti di nord-ovest,
sui Banchi di Terranova!
II
Avevamo a bordo dei passeggeri, svedesi e molti altri
era il 1906 che ci fece tribolare tanto,
abbiamo dato in pegno i nostri vestiti a Liverpool con leggerezza,
senza pensare ai venti di nord-ovest
sui Banchi di Terranova!
III
E avevamo a bordo una bella giovane, si chiamava Bridget Wellford
le promisi di sposarla
e un pegno pretendeva;
si strappò le sottane di flanella
per fare guanti per le mie mani,
non avrebbe visto il suo vero amore perire sui Banchi di Terranova.
IV
Una notte che stavo nella mia cuccetta
feci un bel sogno
che ero in Scozia accanto a un ruscelletto
con  la mia ragazza sulle ginocchia e una bottiglia in mano,
ma mi svegliai con il cuore afflitto,
sui Banchi di Terranova
V
E ora che siamo diretti a Sandy Bay, dove le alte colline sono ricoperte di neve, il nostro battello a vapore corre spedito e andremo a New York.
La raschieremo e la strofineremo
con la pietra pomice e la sabbia
e diremo addio alle Virgin Rocks sui Banchi di Terranova

NOTE
* testo tratto in parte dalla versione di Pete Shepheard  qui

transportation song
la pesca sui Banchi
the Eastern Light
morte del capitano (ballata americana)
naufragio e soccorso sui Banchi (ballata canadese)

 

FONTI
https://www.irishtune.info/tune/118/
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-banks-of-newfoundland-emc/
http://www.boundingmain.com/lyrics/bnk_newfoundland.htm
https://mainlynorfolk.info/martin.carthy/songs/banksofnewfoundland.html
https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/The-Paul-McKenna-Band/The-Banks-of-Newfoundland

http://gestsongs.com/01/banks1.htm
http://gestsongs.com/01/banks3.htm
http://gestsongs.com/02/banks5.htm
https://www.springthyme.co.uk/1042/42_09.htm

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=44529
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=17059
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130147

The Irish Girl of Mr Tapscott

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“Mr Tapscott” is a sea shanty/emigration song known as “The Irish Girl”, “The Irish Emigrant”, ” Yellow Meal”. (see firt part)

The Irish Girl of Mr Tapscott

It tells the story of an Irish girl who, from Liverpool embarks on a packet ship of Mr. Tapscott directed to New York. Her arrival point is Brooklyn’s Irishtown not as famous as the Five Points in Manhattan but even more crowded by Irish immigrants. Irishtown was in the Fifth Ward / Vinegar Hill, an Irish stronghold full of illegal whiskey distilleries and detached from Anglo-American culture, in which even the police dared not set foot. Like the famous Irish revolutionary Michael Collins said in the movie, “There is one weapon that the British cannot take away from us: we can ignore them.”  More generally, the masses of poor and desperate Irish settled along the coast of Brooklyn, on the waterfront from Williamsburg to Gowanus.
The waterfront neighborhoods of antebellum Brooklyn was such a place. These neighborhoods of mostly English Protestants and old Dutch aristocracy were quickly overwhelmed by these Catholic “invaders” crippled by diseases, starving and with a legacy of rebelliousness, secrecy, violence and faction fighting within their fiercely communal cooperations. In short, these great numbers of Brooklyn immigrants were in no way interested in assimilating into the incumbent Anglo-Protestant culture. (from qui)

brooklyn-irishtown
A color drawing from 1855 looking west toward Brooklyn’s Navy Yard. Just beyond it in the area that looks shaded was “Irishtown.”

MR TAPSCOTT (John Short)

john-shortText and melody are a variant of “The New York gals” (“Can’t You Dance the Polka?”) This is what the authors of the Short Sharp Shanties project write in the notes: This shanty text is more widely known as The Irish Girl, The Irish Emigrant or Yellow Meal and the texts are fairly consistent – however, this text is one of only two instances where we have deliberately changed any words: we were not prepared to use the ‘N’ word – nor did Sharp, although he noted it, so we have used his text for the ‘Foulton Ferry’ verse. Short’s tune is, of course, more widely known as carrying New York Gals or Can’t You Dance the Polka (which are, arguably, text variants of Jack-All-Alone (a.k.a. Patrick Street/Barrack Street) – which used the tune of the polka Larry Doolan  (a.k.a.The Irish Jaunting Car) –  published 1852). The tune was also used for the American Civil War song The Bonny Blue Flag (1861) and subsequently for The Southern Girl’s Reply. The text has also been recorded, as a shanty, sung to Heave Away, Me Johnny (to which Short sang Banks of the Sweet Dundee.   (from here)

Sam Lee from Short Sharp Shanties : Sea songs of a Watchet sailor Vol 1  ♪

I
As I was a-walking down
by the Clarence Dock (1),
I overheard an Irish girl
conversing with Tapscott (2).
Chorus (after each verse):
And away you Santy (3), my dear Annie,
Oh you Santy, I’ll love you for your money
II
“Good morning Mister Tapscott,
good morning, sir,” says she,
“O have you got a ship of fame
to carry me o’er the sea?”
III
“O yes, I have a ship of fame,
tomorrow she sets sail,
She’s lieing in the Waterloo Dock taking in her mail.”
IV
The day was fine when we set sail
but night has scare begun (4)
A dirty nor’west wind came up
and drove us back again.		 V
Our captain, being an Irishman,
as you shall understand,
He hoisted out his small boat on the banks of Newfoundland.
VI
‘Twas at the Castle Gardens (5) fair
they landed me on shore,
And if I marry a Yankee boy
I’ll go to sea no more.
VII
I went down to Foulton Ferry (6)
but I could not get across,
I jumped on the back
of a ferryboat man
and rode him like an hoss.
VIII
My father is a butcher,
my mother chops the meat,
My sister keeps a slap-up (7)
shop way down on Water Street (8).

NOTES
1) The port of Liverpool is a port system along the Mersey river estuary. The first basin of Liverpool was built in 1715 and then developed into a system of interconnected docks that allowed the movements of ships uninterruptedly despite the tides. Most of the small quayside of the southern part of the port of Liverpool were closed in 1971, as new basins were opened to accommodate the new cargo ships.
2)This shanty may have had a special appeal to Short: ‘Tapscott’ was William Tapscott from a Minehead (Somerset) family that had lived in the town (a neighbour to Watchet) from at least the mid-1770s.  William was an American packet ship broker, with offices on Regents Road, Liverpool, and Eden Quay, Dublin. He worked in conjunction with his brother James, who looked after the New York end of the business, and specialized in selling pre-paid passages to successful immigrants who now wished to bring their families to America.  They were agents for the Black Ball Line and, at one period, also for the Red Cross Line of American packets.  Together, they fleeced the unsuspecting. The Tapscott brothers were systematic villains, whose frauds began with their advertisements: although Taspcott advertised that his passages were on ships of over 1000 tons, and even as much as 2000 tons, in fact most were barely 600 tons. As their wealth increased the Tapscotts set up their own shipping line.  Cheap emigrant passages was the name of the game – but conditions were atrocious and the food poor (the ‘yellow meal’, i.e. corn grits, of the alternative title).  In 1849 William Tapscott was adjudged bankrupt, and in the same year was charged with fraud, concerning the money of shareholders in the business. He was found guilty and sentenced to three years’ penal servitude (from qui)
3 it recall to another sea shanty and to Santy Anna- Santiana . Santy here is used as a term of endearment in Italian could be Santina
4) Passengers often suffered from seasickness, especially with strong winds from the north wind
5) Castle Clinton or Fort Clinton or Castle Garden was a circular fort located in New York City in Battery Park, in the southern part of the island of Manhattan: from the mid-nineteenth century, it was used as the first sorting center for the european immigration. The station was in operation until 1890, when the federal administration, under pressure of a second and more massive immigration wave coming from all the states of Europe, decided to open a more functional one in Ellis Island.

New York 1850
John Bachmann. The Empire City, Birdseye View of New York and Environs, 1855

6) Fulton Ferry was the ferry that connected Brooklyn with New York and that remained in business until the construction of the famous bridge (1883) see more
7) nowaday we translates slap-up as “excellent” but I imagine a place to eat an economic meal (origins here),the term is however associated with a quality positive as something very good, but it may also mean a trendy place.
8) on the waterfront of Brooklyn

LINK
http://www.castlegarden.org/
http://visualizingnyc.org/essays/john-bachmanns-new-york/
https://artofneed.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/the-brooklyn-irish/
https://artofneed.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/brooklyns-irishtown/
https://artofneed.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/801/
https://www.vwml.org/record/CJS2/10/2877
https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/mrtapscott.html
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/tapscott.shtml

The Irish Emigrant sea shanty (We’re All Bound To Go)

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Same text for two sea shanties that differ in the choir
one is:
Hey-ro, me yellow gals,
a-do-a let me go (see jn first part)
other one goes:
Heave away my bully boys,
We’re all bound to go.

SECOND VERSION: THE IRISH EMIGRANT (We’re All Bound To Go)

Let’s not forget that it was precisely the transoceanic service between Liverpool and New York (inaugurated by Isaac Wright & Co’s Black Ball Line in 1816) to kick off the career of shantyman and “call and response” songs, that is, the coordinated work songs. Among the musical influences those Irish has taken a good slice of recognition!
The reasons are numerous, not least the significant traffic of goods and people between Ireland and Liverpool, which increased with the massive emigration in the years of the Great Famine; many Irishmen continued their journey to the Overseas destinations, but many others stopped in Liverpool, characterizing that town by a certain irishness both in the spoken word (the scouse) and in the music.

Obviously the crews of these ships, nicknamed Packet Rats were mostly Irish or came from areas with strong Irish immigration, so accents, musical styles and lyrics of the sea shanty came mostly from Ireland.

Thus “The Irish Emigrant” (also as “We’re All Bound to Go”) is an outward-bound windlass shanty on the melody of a jig.
The story describes the misadventures at sea of an Irish girl or an Irish boy who complains about the mistreatment suffered on the Packet Rat, in which mention is made of Mr. Tapscott, a Liverpool shipping agent, the melody follows the chorus Heave away my Johnny. Stan Hugill presents three series of lyrics and two melodies and the finale is different taking again cue from the Yellow Gals seen in the first part. (for a collection of versions see here)

John Roberts & Tony Barrand from Across The Western Ocean, 2000 write in the notes: Also known as The Irish Emigrant, this is another shanty from the collection of Hugill, who remarks that it is an example of a brake-windlass shanty, which in actual use on a ship was sung to a varying rhythm. The first line was fairly slow, as the brakes or levers were pulled down to waist level, end the next line faster as a second movement brought them down to knee level. Similar versions of the shanty appear in Colcard and Doerflinger. The ‘Tapscott’ referred to in the song was William Tapscott, Liverpool agent for the Black Ball Line (and also, for a time, of the Red Cross Line). (from here)
(first version: Stan Hugill)

blog  A Liverpool Folk song a week ♪ (second version: Yellow Gal)

The Foo Foo Band, 2000 – (text here)


I
As I walked out one summer’s morn’ (1), down by the Salthouse Dock(2),
Heave away m’ Johnnies,
heave away!
I met an emigrant Irish girl (3),
conversing with Tapscott(4),
And away m’ bully boys,
we’re all bound to go.
II
“Good morning Mr. Tapscott sir” “Good morning, girl (my gal)” says he,
“Oh have you got any packet ships all bound for Amerikee?”
III
“Yes, I got a packet ship.
Oh, I’ve got one or two,
I’ve got ‘Jinny Walker’
and I’ve got the ‘Kangaroo 5).”
IV
I’ve got the Jinny Walker,
and today she does set sail
With five and fifty emigrants and a thousand bags of meal. (6)
V
The day was fine when we set sail,
but night had barely come,
and every emigrant never ceased
to wish himself at home.
(first version: Stan Hugill) (7)
That night as we was sailing through the Channel of Saint James (8),
A dirty nor’west wind come up and blew us back again.
We snugged her down and laid her to with reefed main topsail set,
It was no joke, I tell you, ‘cause our bunks and clothes was wet.
It cleared up fine at break of day, and we set sail once more,
And every emigrant sure was glad when we reached America’s shore.
So now I’m in Philadelphia and working on the canal (9),
To sail again in a packet ship I’m sure I never shall (10).
Oh, but I’ll go home in a National Boat that carries both steam and sail,
With lashings of corned beef (11) every day and none of your yellow meal. (12)
(second version: Yellow Gal))
“Bad luck to them irish sailor boys bad luck to them” I say.
“but they all got drunk and broke into me bunk and stole me clothes away.
Twas at the Castle Garden(13)
they landed me on shore
And if I marry a Yankee boy I’ll cross the seas no more.”

NOTES
1) the opening line is a typical narrative expedient classified as ‘come-all-ye’
2) pier of the port of Liverpool in other versions it’s cited: Clarence Dock, Albert dock, Landing Stage, Sligo dock

Liverpool Salthouse Dock 1897


3) or irish boy (see first version)
4) The brothers William and James Tapscott (the first based in Liverpool and the second in New York) organized the trip for immigrants from Britain to America, often taking advantage of the ingenuity of their clients. Initially they worked for the Black Ball Line and then set up their own transportation line for the Americas that provided a very cheap trip, but the conditions of the trip were terrible and the food poor. In 1849 William Tapscott went bankrupt and was tried and convicted of fraud against the company’s shareholders.
5) Joseph Walker, Kangaroo and Henry Clay are the names of the notorious British and American Packet Rats,
6) also written as “male”: the vessels were also a postal service and meal is the Irish pronunciation by mail; but here Tapscott deliberately creates the misunderstanding because they are instead bags of “meal”  that would have given to the passengers.
7) from “emigrant Irish boy” version by Stan Hugill (see)
8) the location is not clear to me
9) The Pennsylvania Canal (1830-1860) it was a network of navigable infrastructure built in the state of Pennsylvania for the transportation of goods that connected Pittsburgh to Philadelphia in the days when the railways were still in its infancy.(see)
10) It is not clear to me whether it refers to a trip as a passenger or a sailor
11) “corned” comes from the cover of meat with “grains” of salt to preserve it.
12) used in a derogatory sense: corn gruel served on board
13) Castle Clinton or Fort Clinton or Castle Garden was a circular fort located in New York City in Battery Park, in the southern part of the island of Manhattan: from the mid-nineteenth century, it was used as the first sorting center for the european immigration. The station was in operation until 1890, when the federal administration, under pressure of a second and more massive immigration wave coming from all the states of Europe, decided to open a more functional one in Ellis Island.

Samuel B. Waugh, Irish immigrants debark at New York in 1847: Castle Garden is on the left in the background
Ellis Island, in the Upper Bay of New York, was the busiest US immigration inspection station from 1892 to 1954.

The Irish Girl of Mr Tapscott (John Short)
Heave away my Johnny

LINK
https://www.liverpoolirishfestival.com/shanty-singing-irish-atlantic-liverpool-irish/
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/tapscott.shtml
http://www.contemplator.com/sea/bound2go.html
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=59218
https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/mrtapscott.html
http://www.tomlewis.net/lyrics/heave_away.htm
http://www.jsward.com/shanty/heave_away/shay.html
http://www.goldenhindmusic.com/lyrics/HEAVEAWA.html
http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/Doe062.html

Yellow Gals (Girls) or Irish Girl?

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Same text for two sea shanties that differ in the choir
one is:
Hey-ro, me yellow gals,
a-do-a let me go
other one goes:
Heave away my bully boys,
We’re all bound to go. (see in  second part)

YELLOW GALS OR YELLOW MEAL?

yallow-girl
Julien Vallou de Villeneuve (1795-1866), Petit blanc que j’aime

Yellow Gals (Girls) are not girls dressed in yellow or with blond hair and not even oriental ones, they are rather mulatto girls (creole) of the West Indies, according to the nineteenth-century seafaring jargon.

The term “Creole” can be understood in two exceptions: from the Spanish “crillo”, which originally referred to the first generation born in the “New World”, sons of settlers from Europe (Spain or France) and slaves. They could identify the urban population of New Orleans with light skin descended from black slaves, or all the French-speaking blacks of southwestern Louisiana, whose skin color changes from brown to black-blue, which are usually more people humble social condition.
The Spaniards in particular gave imaginative and specific names to the different gradations of the “pure” blood of hidalgo, mixed with the Amerindians (they even distinguished the Spanish born in America from those in the Land of Spain !!!) .

Hey-ro, me yellow gals, a-do-a let me go

An overwhelming irish version for the  Doodle Let Me Go!
“A.L. Lloyd sang the shanty Doodle Let Me Go (Yaller Girls) live at the Top Lock Folk Club, Runcorn, on November 5, 1972. This concert was published in 2010 on the Fellside CD An Evening with A.L. Lloyd. Paul Adams commented in the sleeve notes: “Bert’s version seems to be based on that communicated to R.R. Terry by Harding ‘The Barbarian’—a black seaman from Barbados noted as “a fine shanty-man and first-rate seaman”. (from here)
The first part is similar to the so-called “pirate song” version in which the virtues of the girls of Madama Gashee, the famous brothel of Callao, are praised; while the second part is an emigration song that shares with the Yellow Meal the story of a young and unfortunate Irish girl landed in New York.

The Irish Rovers from Emigrate, Emigrate! 1975
A version similar to that recorded by A.L. Lloyd, the first song is an instrumental entitled The Passing of the Gale

 

I
Johnny was a rover and he’s bound for Calley-o (3)
Hey-ro, me yellow gals,
a-do-a let me go
Johnny was a rover and to sea he’s bound to go
Hey-ro, me yellow gals,
a-do-a let me go
CHORUS
Do-a let me go (1)  me gals,
Do-a let me go
Hey-ro me yellow (2) gals
a-do-a let me go

 

 II
As I walked down the landing stage all on a summer morn
I met an immagrant Irish girl all lookin’ all forlorn
III
“Good mornin’ Mr. Captain, sir!” “Good mornin’ you,” says he
“Oh have ya got a packin’ ship all for Americ-kay?”
IV
“I’ve got the Jimmy Walker (4),
and she’s bound around the Horn (5),
With five-and-twenty imagrants and a thousand sacks of corn”
V
“Bad luck to Irish sailor boys, bad luck to them I say
They all got drunk, broke in me trunk (6), and stole me clothes away!”

NOTES
1) it might mean “girl” (from the French dou-dou or a word spread in the Caribbean as “in love”) as a term of endearment or for Do-a-me-go, or Don ‘let me go or Do let my go.. As noted the sailors had the custom to add a “d” before the letter “l” so the word “do let” becomes phonetically “do -d- let” and then doodle. Or again it could be a nonsense word (see discussion herei)
2) yella, yallow was used by British-American sailors to indicate the skin color of a mulatta (Creole). More rarely to indicate an Asian girl. “Yellow Gal” is a typical expression of the vaudeville songs mostly en-travestì (black-face minstrel songs)
3) Callao port of Peru renowned for the brothel of Madam Gashee
4) this name of a ship is recurring in the many variations of the sea shanty themed emigration song
5) the infamous Cape Horn
6) I do not think it refers only to the theft of clothes, the crossing at sea was dangerous for the young ladies not accompanied by servants or an adult male. Too often they were considered to be some prostitutes instead of victims of rape!

HEAVE AWAY MY JOHNNIES (Irish girl)
DOODLE LET ME GO (Yaller girls)
The Irish Girl of Mr Tapscott (John Short)

LINK
https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/doodleletmego.html
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=49421
http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/Doe062.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20774/20774-h/20774-h.htm

Heave away my Johnnies -Irish girl sea shanty

Read the post in English

Testo molto simile per due sea shanties che si differenziano nel coretto
il primo
Hey-ro, me yellow gals,
a-do-a let me go (vedi nella prima parte)
e il secondo
Heave away my bully boys,
We’re all bound to go.

SECONDA VERSIONE: THE IRISH EMIGRANT (We’re All Bound To Go)

Non dimentichiamo che fu proprio  il sevizio di linea transoceanica tra Liverpool e New York (inaugurato dalla  Black Ball Line di Isaac Wright & Co nel 1816) a dare il via alla carriera dello shantyman e dei canti a “chiamata e risposta” (call and response song), cioè i canti di lavoro coordinati. Tra le influenze musicali quella irlandese si è presa una bella fetta di riconoscimenti!
I motivi sono molteplici non ultimo il significativo traffico di merci e persone tra Irlanda e Liverpool che si incrementò con la massiccia emigrazione negli anni della Grande Carestia; molti irlandesi proseguivano il viaggio per le mete Oltreoceano, ma molti altri si fermarono a Liverpool caratterizzandola per una certa irlandesità sia nella parlata (lo scouse) che nella musica.

Ovviamente gli equipaggi di queste navi erano per buona parte irlandesi o provenivano da zone a forte immigrazione irlandese, così accenti, stili musicali e testi delle sea shanty arrivarono per buona parte dall’Irlanda.

Così “The Irish Emigrant” (anche come “We’re All Bound to Go”) è una outward-bound windlass shanty sulla melodia di una jig.
La storia descrive le disavventure per mare di una fanciulla irlandese o di un irish boy che si lamenta del maltrattamento subito sulla Packet Rat, emigrati a New York in cui si fa espressa menzione del signor Tapscott, un agente marittimo di Liverpool, la melodia segue il coro Heave away my Johnny. Stan Hugill presenta tre serie di testi e due melodie e il finale si differenzia prendendo nuovamente spunto dalla Yellow Gals vista nella prima parte. (per una raccolta di versioni vedere qui)

John Roberts & Tony Barrand in Across The Western Ocean, 2000 che così scrivono nelle note: “Conosciuta anche come The Irish Emigrant, questa è un’altra santy della collezione di Hugill, il quale osserva che si tratta di una  brake-windlass shanty, che in uso su una nave veniva cantato con un ritmo diverso. Il primo verso era piuttosto lento, poiché i freni o le leve venivano abbassati fino al livello della vita, il verso successivo si concludeva più velocemente mentre un secondo movimento portava le leve al livello del ginocchio. Versioni simili della shanty appaiono in Colcard e Doerflinger. Il “Tapscott” a cui si fa riferimento nella canzone era William Tapscott, agente del Liverpool per la Black Ball Line (e anche, per un periodo, della Red Cross Line). (tratto da qui)
(primo finale)

dal blog  A Liverpool Folk song a week ♪ (secondo finale)

The Foo Foo Band, 2000 – il testo riprende a grandi linee quello riportato da qui


As I walked out one summer’s morn’ (1), down by the Salthouse Dock(2),
Heave away m’ Johnnies,
heave away!
I met an emigrant Irish girl (3),
conversing with Tapscott(4),
And away m’ bully boys,
we’re all bound to go.
“Good morning Mr. Tapscott sir” “Good morning, girl (my gal)” says he,
“Oh have you got any packet ships all bound for Amerikee?”
“Yes, I got a packet ship.
Oh, I’ve got one or two,
I’ve got ‘Jinny Walker’
and I’ve got the ‘Kangaroo 5).”
I’ve got the Jinny Walker,
and today she does set sail
With five and fifty emigrants and a thousand bags of meal. (6)
The day was fine when we set sail,
but night had barely come,
and every emigrant never ceased
to wish himself at home.
(first version: Stan Hugill) (7)
That night as we was sailing through the Channel of Saint James (8),
A dirty nor’west wind come up and blew us back again.
We snugged her down and laid her to with reefed main topsail set,
It was no joke, I tell you, ‘cause our bunks and clothes was wet.
It cleared up fine at break of day, and we set sail once more,
And every emigrant sure was glad when we reached America’s shore.
So now I’m in Philadelphia and working on the canal (9),
To sail again in a packet ship I’m sure I never shall (10).
Oh, but I’ll go home in a National Boat that carries both steam and sail,
With lashings of corned beef (11) every day and none of your yellow meal. (12)
(second version: Yellow Gal))
“Bad luck to them irish sailor boys bad luck to them” I say.
“but they all got drunk and broke into me bunk and stole me clothes away.
Twas at the Castle Garden(13)
they landed me on shore
And if I marry a Yankee boy I’ll cross the seas no more.”
 Traduzione italiano di Cattia Salto
Mentre camminavo un mattino d’estate verso il Salthouse Dock
virate a lasciare, compagni,
virate a lasciare
ho incontrato una ragazza irlandese che parlava con Tapscott
virate a lasciare, allegri compagni,
siamo in partenza.
“Buon giorno signor Tapscott, signore”,
“Buon giorno signorina” dice lui
“Avete una nave che parte per l’America?”
“Si ho un postale,
oh ne ho un paio,
ho la Jinny Walker
e la Kangaroo ”
Ho preso la Jinny Walker
e oggi prende il largo
con 55 emigranti e un migliaio di sacchi di “posta” .
Il giorno era bello quando prendemmo il mare, ma la notte venne presto
e ogni emigrante non smetteva
di desiderare la propria casa.
PRIMA VERSIONE FINALE
Quella notte che navigavamo nel Channel of Saint James,
un maledetto vento da nord-ovest ci spingeva indietro
l’abbiamo preparata per ogni evenienza  con le vele di gabbia di terzarolo, c’era poco da scherzare perchè le nostre cuccette e i vestiti erano bagnati, allo spuntar del giorno il tempo si è messo al bello e abbiamo di nuovo dispiegato le vele.
Ogni emigrante era molto contento quando abbiamo raggiunto l’America.
Così adesso sono a Filadelfia e lavoro nel canale, a navigare ancora su un postale non andrò più di sicuro.
Ma andrò a casa con una barca nazionale che porta sia motori che vele
con manzo salato in abbondanza
e ogni giorno ma nessuna polentina gialla.
SECONDA VERSIONE FINALE
“Mala sorte a quei marinai irlandesi, la malasorte a loro auguro,
perchè si ubriacarono e fecero irruzione nella mia cuccetta e mi rubarono i vestiti.
Fu al Castle Garden  che mi sbarcarono a riva e se sposerò un americano non attraverserò mai più il mare”

NOTE
1) la frase d’apertura è un tipico espediente narrativo classificato come ‘come-all-ye’
2) moli del porto di Liverpool in altre versioni si citano Clarence Dock, Albert dock, Landing Stage, Sligo dock

Liverpool Salthouse Dock 1897


3) la versione con l’irish boy è qui ripresa nel primo finale
4) I fratelli William e James Tapscott (il primo con sede a Liverpool e il secondo a New York) organizzavano il viaggio per gli emigranti dalla Gran Bretagna all’America, spesso approfittando dell’ingenuità dei loro clienti. Inizialmente lavoravano per la Black Ball Line poi misero su una loro linea di trasporto per le Americhe che procurava un viaggio molto economico, ma le condizioni del viaggio erano tremende e il cibo scadente. Nel 1849 William Tapscott ha fatto bancarotta ed è stato processato e condannato per frode verso gli azionisti della compagnia.
5) Joseph Walker, Kangaroo e Henry Clay sono i nomi dei vascelli di linea tra Gran Bretagna e America, famigerati Packet Rats,
6) scritto anche come “male”: i vascelli facevano anche da servizio postale e meal è la pronuncia irlandese per mail; ma qui Tapscott volutamente crea l’equivoco perchè sono invece sacchi di “meal” cioè di semola che avrebbe dato in pasto ai passeggeri.
7) i versi provengono dalla versione “emigrant Irish boy” raccolta da Stan Hugill (vedi)
8) non mi è ben chiara la localizzazione
9) The Pennsylvania Canal (1830-1860) era una rete di infrastrutture navigabili costruite nello stato della Pennsylvania per il trasporto delle merci che collegava  Pittsburgh a Filadelfia nei tempi in cui le ferrovie erano ancora  agli albori. (vedi)
10) non mi è ben chiaro se si riferisca a un viaggio come passeggero o come marinaio
11)  “corned” deriva dalla copertura di carne con “grani” di sale per preservarlo.
12) letteralmente “pasto giallo” usato in senso dispregiativo
13) Castle Clinton o Fort Clinton o Castle Garden era un forte circolare situato nella Città di New York a Battery Park, nella parte meridionale dell’isola di Manhattan: dalla metà del XIX secolo, fu utilizzato come primo centro di smistamento per l’immigrazione proveniente dall’Europa. La stazione fu in funzione fino al 1890, anno in cui l’amministrazione federale, sotto pressione di una seconda e più imponente ondata immigratoria proveniente da tutti gli stati d’Europa, decise di aprirne una più funzionale su Ellis Island.

Samuel B. Waugh, Irish immigrants debark at New York in 1847: sulla sinistra in secondo piano è raffigurato proprio Castle Garden
Ellis Island, nell’Alta Baia di New York , fu la più trafficata stazione di ispezione degli immigrati degli Stati Uniti dal 1892 al 1954.

The Irish Girl of Mr Tapscott (John Short)
Heave away my Johnny

FONTI
https://www.liverpoolirishfestival.com/shanty-singing-irish-atlantic-liverpool-irish/
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/tapscott.shtml
http://www.contemplator.com/sea/bound2go.html
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=59218
https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/mrtapscott.html
http://www.tomlewis.net/lyrics/heave_away.htm
http://www.jsward.com/shanty/heave_away/shay.html
http://www.goldenhindmusic.com/lyrics/HEAVEAWA.html
http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/Doe062.html

Shamrock shore

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Two texts in search of an author, with the same title “Shamrock shore” we distinguish two different songs, both as text and as melody, the first reported by PW Joyce at the end of the nineteenth century is an irish emigration song, the second ever traditional is also an emigration song, but above all a protest song, the social and political denunciation of the Irish question.

EMIGRATION SONG: To London fair

Already at the end of the 1800s P. W. Joyce reported it in his  “Ancient Irish Music” to then republish it in 1909, so he writes “This air, and one verse of the song, was published for the first time by me in my Ancient Irish Music, from which it is reprinted here. It was a favourite in my young days, and I have several copies of the words printed on ballad-sheets“. Again P. W. Joyce in Old Irish Folk Music (1909) reports further text
“Ye muses mine, with me combine and grant me your relief,
While here alone I sigh and moan, I’m overwhelmed with grief:
While here alone I sigh and moan far from my friends and home;
My troubled mind no rest can find since I left the Shamrock shore.”

The Irish emigrant arrives in London, the tune is that generally known with the title of”Erin Shore” (see)

Horslips from Happy to meet, sorry to part, 1972

PW Joyce, 1890
I
In early spring when small birds sing and lambkins sport and play,
My way I took, my friends forsook, and came to Dublin quay;
I enter’d as a passenger, and to England I sailed o’er;
I bade farewell to all my friends,
and I left the shamrock shore.		 II
To London fair, I did repair some pleasure there to find
I found it was a lovely place,
and pleasant to mine eye
The ladies to where fair to view,
and rich the furs they wore
But none I saw, that could compare to the maids of the shamrock shore

PARTY SONG: You brave young sons of Erin’s Isle

More than a song, a political rant about the need for the independence of Ireland and the evils of landlordism.
Matt Molloy, Tommy Peoples, Paul Brady (1978)


I
You brave young sons of Erin’s Isle
I hope you will attend awhile
‘Tis the wrongs of dear old Ireland I am going to relate
‘Twas black and cursed was the day
When our parliament was taken away
And all of our griefs and sufferings commences from that day (1)
For our hardy sons and daughters fair
To other countries must repair
And leave their native land behind in sorrow to deplore
For seek employment they must roam
Far, far away from the native home
From that sore, oppressed island that they call the shamrock shore
II
Now Ireland is with plenty blessed
But the people, we are sore oppressed
All by those cursed tyrants we are forced for to obey
Some haughty landlords for to please
Our houses and our lands they’ll seize
To put fifty farms into one (2) and take us all away
Regardless of the widow’s sighs
The mother’s tears and orphan’s cries
In thousands we were driven from home which grieves my heart full sore
We were forced by famine and disease (3) To emigrate across the seas
From that sore, opressed island that they called the shamrock shore
 III
Our sustenance all taken away
The tithes and taxes for to pay
To support that law-protected church to which they do adhere (4)
And our Irish gentry, well you know
To other countries they do go
And the money from old Ireland they squandered here and there
For if our squires  would stay at home
And not to other countries roam
But to build mills and factories (5) here to employ the laboring poor
For if we had trade and commerce here
To me no nation could compare
To that sore, oppressed island that they call the shamrock shore
IV
John Bull (6), he boasts, he laughs with scorn
And he says that Irishman is born
To be always discontented for at home we cannot agree
But we’ll banish the tyrants from our land
And in harmony like sisters stand
To demand the rights of Ireland,
let us all united be
And our parliament in College Green
For to assemble, it will be seen
And happy days in Erin’s Isle we soon will have once more
And dear old Ireland soon will be
A great and glorious country
And peace and blessings soon will smile all around the shamrock shore

NOTES
1) The song is obviously post-Union (1800), because it refers to the dissolved Irish Parliament
2) the plague of landlordism
3)  in 1846 the entire crop of potatoes (basic diet of the Irish) was all destroyed due to a fungus, the peronospera; the “great famine” occurred (1845-1849 which some historians prolonged until 1852) which lasted for several years and almost halved the population; those who did not die of hunger were lucky if they could leave for England or Scotland, but more massive was the migration to America
4) ‘tithes and taxes’ paid in support of the Irish Church, so the song pre-dates the Act of Disestablishment in 1869
5) the years of large-scale industrial expansion (with relative upgrading of infrastructure) began in Britain starting from 1840-50
6) John Bull is the national personification of the Kingdom of Great Britain

Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore

FONTI
http://ingeb.org/songs/yebravey.html
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=62929 http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130087

https://thesession.org/discussions/13438
http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/casey/shamrock.htm

Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore

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“Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore ” is a traditional Irish song originally from Donegal, of which several textual versions have been written for a single melody.

TUNE: Erin Shore

A typically Irish tune spread among travellers already at the end of 1700, today it is known with different titles: Shamrock shore, Erin Shore (LISTEN instrumental version of the Irish group The Corrs from Forgiven, Not Forgotten 1995), Lough Erin Shore (LISTEN to the version always instrumental of the Corrs from Unpluggesd 1999), Gleanntáin Ghlas’ Ghaoth Dobhair, Gleanntan Glas Gaoith Dobhair or The Green Glens Of Gweedor (with text written by Francie Mooney)

Standard version: Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore

“The common Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore was first sung on an EFDSS LP(1969) by Packie Manus Byrne, now over 80 and living in Ardara Co Donegal*. He was born at Corkermore between there and Killybegs. It was taken up by Paul Brady and subsequently. However, there are longer and more local (to north Derry, Donegal) versions in Sam Henry’s Songs of the People and in Jimmy McBride’s The Flower of Dunaff Hill.” (in Mudcats ) and Sam Henry writes “Another version has been received from the Articlave district, where the song was first sung in 1827 by an Inishowen ploughman.”
The recording made by Sean Davies at Cecil Sharp House dates back to 1969 and again in the sound archives of the ITMA we find the recording sung by Corney McDaid at McFeeley’s Bar, Clonmany, Co. Donegal in 1987 (see) and also Paul Brady recorded it many times.
Kevin Conneff recorded it with the Chieftains in 1992, “Another Country” ♪ (I, II, IV, V, II)

Amelia Hogan from “Transplants: From the Old World to the New.”

Liam Ó Maonlai & Donal Lunny ( I, IV, V, II)

Dolores Keane & Paul Brady live 1988 (I, II, IV, V)

intro*
Come Irishmen all, who hear my song, your fate is a mournful tale
When your rents are behind and you’re being taxed blind and your crops have grown sickly and failed
You’ll abandon your lands,
and you’ll wash your hands of all that has come before and you’ll take to the sea to a new count-a-ree, far from the green Shamrock shore.
I
From Derry quay we sailed away
On the twenty-third of May
We were boarded by a pleasant crew
Bound for Amerikay
Fresh water then we did take on
Five thousand gallons or more
In case we’d run short going to New York
Far away from the shamrock shore
II (Chorus)
Then fare thee well, sweet Liza dear
And likewise to Derry town
And twice farewell to my comrades bold (boys)
That dwell on that sainted ground
If fame or fortune shall favour me
And I to have money in store
I’ll come back and I’ll wed the wee lassie I left
On Paddy’s green shamrock shore		 III
At twelve o’clock we came in sight
Of famous Mullin Head
And Innistrochlin to the right stood out On the ocean’s bed
A grander sight ne’er met my eyes
Than e’er I saw before
Than the sun going down ‘twixt sea and sky
Far away from the shamrock shore
IV
We sailed three days (weeks), we were all seasick
Not a man on board was free
We were all confined unto our bunks
And no-one to pity poor me
No mother dear nor father kind
To lift (hold) up my head, which was sore
Which made me think more on the lassie I left
On Paddy’s green shamrock shore
V
Well we safely reached the other side
in three (fifteen) and twenty days
We were taken as passengers by a man(1)
and led round in six different ways,
We each of us drank a parting glass
in case we might never meet more,
And we drank a health to Old Ireland
and Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore

NOTES
*additional first verse by Garrison White
1) It refers to the reception of immigrants who were inspected and held for bureaucratic formalities, but the sentence is not very clear. Ellis Island was used as an entry point for immigrants only in 1892. Prior to that, for approximately 35 years, New York State had 8 million immigrants transit through the Castle Garden Immigration Depot in Lower Manhattan.

OTHER VERSIONS

This text was written by Patrick Brian Warfield, singer and multi-instrumentalist of the Irish group The Wolfe Tones. In his version the point of landing is not New York but Baltimore.
Young Dubliners

The Wolfe Tones from Across the Broad Atlantic 2005 ♪

Lyrics: Patrick Brian Warfield 
I
Oh, fare thee well to Ireland
My own dear native land
It’s breaking my heart to see friends part
For it’s then that the tears do fall
I’m on my way to Americae
Will I e’er see home once more
For now I leave my own true love
And Paddy’s green shamrock shore
II
Our ship she lies at anchor
She’s standing by the quay
May fortune bright shine down each night
As we sail across the sea
Many ships have been lost, many lives it cost
On this journey that lies before
With a tear in my eye I’ll say goodbye
To Paddy’s green shamrock shore
 III
So fare thee well my own true love
I’ll think of you night and day
And a place in my mind you surely will find
Although we’ll be far, far away
Though I’ll be alone far away from home
I’ll think of the good times once more
Until the day I can make my way
Back home to the shamrock shore
IV
And now our ship is on the way
May heaven protect us all
With the winds and the sail we surely can’t fail
On this voyage to Baltimore
But my parents and friends did wave to the end
‘Til I could see them no more
I then took a chance with one last glance
At Paddy’s green shamrock shore

This version takes up the 3rd stanza of the previous version as a chorus
The High Kings

I
So fare thee well, my own true love
I’ll think of you night and day
Farewell to old Ireland
Good-bye to you, Bannastrant(1)
No time to look back
Facing the wind, fighting the waves
May heaven protect us all
From cold, hunger and angry squalls
Pray I won’t be lost
Wind in the sails, carry me safe
Chorus:
So fare thee well, my own true love
I’ll think of you night and day
A place in my mind you will surely find
Although I am so far away
And when I’m alone far away from home
I’ll think of the good times once more
Until I can make it back someday here
To Paddy’s green shamrock shore.
 II
Out now on the ocean deep
Ship’s noise makes it hard to sleep
Tears fill up my eyes
The image of you won’t go away
(Chorus)
III
New York is in sight at last
My heart, it is pounding fast
Trying to be brave
Wishing you near
By my side, a stór (2)
(Chorus)
Until I can make it back someday here
To Paddy’s green shamrock shore

NOTES
1) Banna Strand , Banna Beach, is situated in Tralee Bay County Kerry
2) my love

Shamrock shore

LINK
http://www.ceolas.org/cgi-bin/ht2/ht2-fc2/file=/tunes/fc2/fc.html&style=&refer=&abstract=&ftpstyle=&grab=&linemode=&max=250?isindex=green+shamrock+shore
http://www.kinglaoghaire.com/lyrics/191-paddy-s-green-shamrock-shore http://www.kinglaoghaire.com/lyrics/192-paddys-green-shamrock-shore-1 http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/soundtracks/paddys.htm

https://thesession.org/tunes/5936 https://thesession.org/discussions/2129 https://thesession.org/tunes/7048 https://thesession.org/recordings/218

Emigrant Farewell

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“Farewell My Love and Remebre Me” also with the title “Our Ship Is Ready”, “The Ship Is Ready To Sail Away” or “My Heart is True”, but also “Emigrant Farewell” is the transposition in the Irish folk song of a broadside ballad entitled “Remember Me”, published in Dublin c.1867 (in the “Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads”).

The theme is that of the emigrant’s farewell  who is forced to separate from his true love; he leaves his heart in Ireland so his woman and his country become one in the memory.

In “Ulster Ballad Singer (1968)” Sarah Makem is noted: “Sarah’s melody is used quite often for songs of farewell in much the same way as the air “The Pretty Lasses of Loughrea” was used allover the country for lamentations or execution songs, (see Joyce’s Old Irish Folk Music and Song, pp 219-211). The two best-known printed versions of Sarah’s air are “Fare you well, sweet Cootehill Town” (Joyce, O.I.F.M.S., p 192) and “The Parting Glass” (Irish Street Ballads. p 69). But until such time as a system of notation is invented to record the true intervals of a folksinger’s interpretation, Sarah Makem’s version of this air must remain for study on disc or tape.”

The Boys of the Lough in Farewell and Rember Me, 1987 ( I, III, I)

Pauline Scanlon in Hush 2006 (I, III)
 La Lugh in Senex Puer 1999 (on Spotify): sad and gloomy tune on the piano with a few hints to the cello

I
Our ship is ready to bear(sail) away
Come comrades o’er the stormy seas
Her snow-white wings they are unfurled
And soon she will swim in a watery world
(chorus)
Ah, do not forget, love, do not grieve
For my heart is true and can’t deceive
My hand and heart, I will give to thee
So farewell my love and remember me
II
Farewell to Dublin’s hills and braes
To Killarney’s lakes and silvery seas
‘Twas many the long bright summer’s day/When we passed those hours of joy away(1)
III (3)
Farewell to you, my precious pearl
It’s my lovely dark-haired, blue-eyed girl
And when I’m on the stormy seas
When you think on Ireland, remember me
III (The Boys of the Lough )
Farewell my love as bright as pearl
my lovely dark-haired, blue-eyed girl
and when I am seal in the stormy seas
I’ll hope in Ireland, you’ll think on me
IV
Oh, Erin dear, it grieves my heart
To think that I so soon must part
And friends so ever dear and kind
In sorrow I must leave behind
 Extra Rhymes La Lugh
V
It’s now I must bid a long adieu
To Wicklow and its beauties too
Avoca’s braes where lovers meet
There to discourse in absence sweet
VI
Farewell sweet Deviney, likewise the glen
The Dargle waterfall and then
The lovely scene surrounding Bray
Shall be my thoughts when far awayNOTES
1) or
Where’s many the fine long summer’s day/We loitered hours of joy away

second part:  “Old Cross of Ardboe”

http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/03/ready.htm
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=22322