Musical Monday: Goodbye, Fare Thee Well

For Advent, I thought I would add something on the fun side ... some sea shanties. Enjoy the music and the fun lyrics, as we remember those who have gone to sea before us.

Blessings,

Joel

A note on the lyrics:
First note that The Exmouth Shantymen sing this slightly differently than the two lyric choices below. As pulling the anchor up might take quite a bit of time and is dependent upon how much scope would be out, there are countless verses to this shanty. It's no wonder that the Exmouth Shantymen sing a different variation. Please see additional notes below the lyrics.

Louis Killen sings Goodbye Fare Thee Well

Oh, we're homeward bound to Liverpool town,
    Goodbye fare the well, goodbye fare the well,
Well them Liverpool judies they are welcome down,
    Hurrah, me boys, we're homeward bound!

Them gals there on Lime Street we soon hope to meet,
And soon we'll be a-rolling both sides of the street.

We'll meet those fly girls and we'll ring the old bell,
With them judies we'll meet there we'll raise bloody hell.

Then I'll tell me old women when I gets back home,
The gals there on Lime Street won't leave me alone.

We're homeward bound, to the gals of the town,
So stamp up, me bullies, and heave it around.

Oh, we're homeward bound, we'll have yiz to know,
And over the water to Liverpool we'll go.

Waterson:Carthy sing Goodbye Fare You Well

Our anchor we'll weigh and our sails we will set,
    Goodbye fare you well, goodbye fare you well,
Our friends we are leaving, we leave with regret,
    Hurrah, me boys, we're homeward bound!

We're homeward bound, oh joyful sound,
Come ready the capstan and turn quick around.

We're homeward bound, we have you know,
And over the water to England must go.

We're homeward bound to Liverpool town,
The boys and the girls to the pier flock down.

Oh, then one to the other you hear them all say,
Here comes I and Jacky with eighteen month's pay.

So heave with a will and heave long and strong,
And sing a good chorus for it's a good song.

So, it's now we come home from the far foreign lands,
Where the bottom's all fishes and fine yellow sand.

And the fishes all sing as they swim to and fro,
She's a Liverpool packet, oh Lord, let her go.

So tell my old mother that I get back home,
The girls upon Lime Street won't leave me alone.

The above verses are found on the link above. That webpage also has the following comments regarding this shanty.

Louis Killen and chorus sang this fine capstan shanty accompanied by Dave Swarbrick on fiddle in 1964 on the Topic anthology Farewell Nancy: Sea Songs and Shanties. This album was reissued with bonus tracks in 1993 as the CD Blow the Man Down: A Collection of Sea Songs and Shanties. A.L. Lloyd commented on the album's liner notes:

Traditionally, this one was sung at the capstan when the anchor was raised for the homeward run, a big moment for men who might have been away for a year or more. W.M. Doerflinger says that when the shantyman led the gang in this song, “cheering from other vessels in port rang across the water to wish the homeward-bounders luck.” There are countless verses to this song. Those sung here are mostly from Stan Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas.

Waterson:Carthy sang the less raunchy verses of Goodbye Fare You Well with Eliza in lead on their fifth album, Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand. This track was also included on the anthology Evolving Tradition 4. The original album's notes commented:

The album is topped and tailed by Goodbye Fare You Well and Twenty-One Years on Dartmoor. Liza put the former together from the mountain of verses to be found in Stan Hugill's master collection Shanties from the Seven Seas and had to leave out some beautiful verses otherwise we would have been at it all night. It's the one song on this CD which has no baddies in it and instead has singing fishes. Who needs Walt bloody Disney I say. (OK, Finding Nemo was fun).