Pressing On - Shanties Reborn volume 1

Description: Thirty-three shanty songs, tunes old and new with all-new lyrics. Shanties Reborn - YouTube From the Preface: Sea shanties are having a moment in the sun. Until recently, I had never heard any besides “Drunken Sailor”, but when first I caught wind of this incoming tide, I was immediately on board. People suddenly want strong a cappella amateur male singing, with memorable tunes of rich emotional variety and depth? Sign me up! Never mind that the lyrics rarely make much sense and are occasionally profane. Except, I do mind. And so, apparently, did Doug Wilson and Mark Reagan, whose “Ever and Aye” and “To the Word” introduced the idea of shanties with worthwhile lyrics, using both existing music and new. I want more. With the help of several poets and composers, I have collected all the ones I could find. If you know of others, please send them. (But please, no more for WELLERMAN. I already have eight.) Providing new lyrics for existing songs is part of this genre. A glance through Stan Hugill’s Shanties from the Seven Seas (1961) shows that nearly all shanty songs have several alternate sets of lyrics, often completely different. It also shows that many shanties have many stanzas. Ten seems to be average, and 25 is not unheard of. I will not attempt to define “shanty.” Shanty songs have a distinctive feel, which is easy to recognize but hard to pinpoint. If you have picked up this book, you probably know what they sound like. They also have a particular form: multiple stanzas with refrain, call-and-response in the stanzas, and irregular syllable count in the shantyman’s part, whose rhythm is different in each stanza to match the text. Most songs here follow this pattern. But what do we call a song that feels like a shanty but has none of those elements? I call it a shanty hymn. Shanties were born and raised by men, and these are no exception. To make them work, all you need is a group of men singing the tune—the stronger, the better. But lots of people like to sing harmony, and women and children like to sing as well. So these are all arranged for mixed singing, with melody in the treble, sometimes duplicated in the tenor. But most of the men should sing the melody, in every case. Shanties are normally sung a cappella, but can be accompanied. Guitar chords are included in case this is desired. All traditional shanties are folk songs, and thus have variant forms. Feel free to sing them differently than written. Practice recordings should be on YouTube @ShantiesReborn, but I am still looking for a group to make high-quality recordings of them all. Please contact me if you’re interested. This book would not have happened without the authors’ skill with words, and Bo Schultz’ skill with images. Wow. I’m sure I haven’t thanked them enough. Michael E. OwensDenver, PennsylvaniaJune, 2024 Typeset and assembled byMichael E. Owens140 Sportsman RoadDenver, PA 17517717-572-2078

Price: 6.5 USD

Location: Denver, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2024-10-13T01:42:38.000Z

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