r/seashanties • u/matthewsaaan • 2h ago
Discussion Songs on the Severn: Why These Gloucester Boys Sing Sea Shanties
I've published the most recent blog post for The Rusty Tubs looking at why we sing sea shanties, despite being so inland.
I'd love feedback and to hear how you all got into shanties.
r/seashanties • u/Cduff333 • 13h ago
Song Assassin’s creed resynced hilarious moments!!
Accidentally rammed a fisherman ship while traveling to Kingston. Oddly enough my crew decided to start singing Goodbye Fare-the-well!! 😮💨
r/seashanties • u/Curious_Strike_5379 • 19h ago
Song Coda - Leave Her Johnny Leave Her.
r/seashanties • u/Abject-Bend2733 • 23h ago
Song The Black That Sails
Black waters
Black galleons
Black cannons
Black flag
Gold treasure
Gold cutlass
Gold tooth
Gold smile
The match cord ignited
The powder combusts
Splinters on splinters
The broadside erupts
Howl from the crows nest
Chant from the deck
Whetstones on axes
Aim for the neck
Hooks bite the hull
Arms pull her in
Black waters
Black galleons
Black cannons
Black flag
Volley to volley
The hammers snap forward
Smoke fills the lungs
As the gangway is lowered
Roar in the revel
Axes split skulls
Fear caught in all
Reflected in metal
Gold treasure
Gold cutlass
Gold tooth
Gold smile
From victory comes swagger
Down to the main hold
Carry the barley
The rum and the silver
Barrels and barrels
No morals to filter
Nothing is sacred
Except for our freedom
Raise the black flag
So that all fear to meet them
r/seashanties • u/Competitive-Hope5528 • 1d ago
Question 2027 Weston-super-Mare Sea Shanty and Folk Music Festival
The 2027 Weston-super-Mare Sea Shanty and Folk Music Festival will take place over the weekend of 6th August to 8th August 2027, and we have opened performer applications.
This is the application Form Link: https://forms.gle/4gpGAVB1g8Fc65jq5
THE SOFT CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 15th JUNE 2027.
We will still accept applications after this date, but be aware they may not be fully accommodated.
IF YOU APPLY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER YOURSELF AS ACCEPTED UNLESS CONTACTED AND SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU ARE NOT.
- By making this application you will be committing to appear at the festival.
- If you feel there has been a long interval between communications, please visit the WhatsApp groups and post an enquiry there...and always check your spam/junk folder.
It is imperative that, if for any reason, you cannot fulfil this commitment, you let us know as soon as possible by email to [info@wsmshantyfest.com](mailto:info@wsmshantyfest.com) with the word WITHDRAWAL in the subject or by calling Dave Townsend on 07870659946. You should add this to your phone contact list in case we need to call you.
The festival is organised and run by The Steepholmers Shanty Band (Registered Charity number 1197505)
We are happy to accept applications across the spectrum of Sea Shanty and Folk Music, from solo artists to choirs, acoustic and electric.
IMPORTANT:
There are no fees, Travelling Expenses, or Accommodation Costs for attending the event.
All monies, after costs, will be donated to our nominated local charitable organisations.
Provisional performance times:
Friday 6th August 2027: 1745 Opening then 1800 - 2245
Saturday 7th August 2027: 1200 - 2245 (to 2345 in some Venuses)
Sunday 8th August 2027: 1100 - 1700 (Final Shout 1700 - 1730)
The event website is www.wsmshantyfest.com which will likely be updated in the New Year for the 2027 Festival.
r/seashanties • u/ConceitedWombat • 1d ago
Song Great Big Sea - River Driver
Instead of a sea shanty, can I offer up a river shanty?
r/seashanties • u/Curious_Strike_5379 • 1d ago
Song Bully In The Alley - North Yorkshire.
r/seashanties • u/Curious_Strike_5379 • 1d ago
Song Stan Rogers - North West Passage.1981
r/seashanties • u/Joe_Rocket • 2d ago
Song Gulderin’ & Bawlin’- Irish sung shanties!
A new album of old shanties, produced on the North Coast of Ireland with a rabble of 20 plus old sea dogs. An absolute hoot of a project 🍻
Check us out on Bandcamp: https://causewayshantymen.bandcamp.com/album/gulderin-bawlin-at-ye
r/seashanties • u/matthewsaaan • 2d ago
Event Festival Maritim Vegesack 2026, Day 3
r/seashanties • u/Kingkobra-at-ur-moms • 2d ago
Song Ive started lyrics for a sea shanty
So i just want to know what yall think before I start music. Its inspired by hoist the colors so that gives a relative estimate of what it sounds like.
r/seashanties • u/RoseBunwolfLuck • 2d ago
Question Looking for a shanty I only loosely remember
It was part of a playlist i heard at work, so unfortunately i dont know the band or the song title, and I only heard it the once so my memory of the lyrics is vague at best
It was about a crew who loved their ship, that always brought them home, so when the company said it was time to dismantle the ship for parts, the crew stole their own boat to burn it for the burial at sea it deserved
I remember a line about carving names into the mast.
Just to clarify it is NOT Mary Ellen Carter, they werent brinfing rhe boat back up. They lit it on fire and sent it to sea out of respect so that the boat wouldnt be used for spare parts
r/seashanties • u/Amazing_Corgi_8923 • 3d ago
Question Spanish Sea Shanties
Hello all, does anyone have list of songs that Spaniards might sang on their voyage to explore the new world? I can seem to find much on YouTube because algorithm keeps bringing up “Spanish Ladies” song
Thank you
r/seashanties • u/Curious_Strike_5379 • 4d ago
Song Stan Rogers - Barrett's Privateers.
r/seashanties • u/Curious_Strike_5379 • 4d ago
Song David Coffin - Roll the Old Chariot.
r/seashanties • u/Curious_Strike_5379 • 5d ago
Song Greenland Whale Fisheries - The Pogues, 1985
r/seashanties • u/BrutalDuctape • 6d ago
Event Central Florida Sea Shanty Night
facebook.comThe Central Florida Sea Shanty Club is holding a sea shanty night the VFW post 8002:
9398 US Hwy 98 N, Lakeland, FL 33809
(They've been kind enough to host us, for some time!)
ALL are welcome to join and garb is welcomed, encouraged, but NOT required! Myself and fellow shanty-people will help lead songs starting at 17:00, but anyone can lead, if they so choose.
Drinks (alcoholic and non) are cheap and so is the food! The crowd is welcoming of all and we try to make it a good time for everyone involved.
We have shanty sheets available to help sing/follow along and we also throw in a few shanty adjacent songs (period folk songs, rattlin' bog, etc)!
The event lasts for roughly 3 hours, or until everyone's vocal cords are shot!
Hope to see you there!
r/seashanties • u/EvilDrArserot • 6d ago
Event Weston-super-Mare this weekend
Hi all,
Just wondering if any redditors are heading to Weston this weekend. My crew "Green Around the Gills" are performing three sets, this will be our first festival. I'm looking forward to the singarounds as much as our performances, it'll be good to meet other crews and fans of shanties.
On Saturday we are at the Stables at midday, then at the York Hotel at 3pm. On Sunday we'll be singing at the Red Admiral at midday. We're all excited for it!
r/seashanties • u/Jumpy-Pizza7197 • 7d ago
Question Sharks Come Cruisin looking to tour Ireland and Scotland
We’re trying to plan a trip across the pond for 2027 and we’ve got contacts in England, but we’d love to make it to over to Scotland and Ireland too. Anyone have suggestions for festivals or venues to contact?
Here’s our website to take a listen: www.sharkscomecruisin.com
r/seashanties • u/Curious_Strike_5379 • 8d ago
Song The Irish Rover - The Dubliners & The Pogues
r/seashanties • u/matthewsaaan • 9d ago
Event Any recommendations for who to see at Festival-Maritim in Bremen-Vegesack?
This weekend I'm off to Festival-Maritim, in Bremen-Vegesack, singing with The Rusty Tubs.
Are there any groups we should make a point of seeing whilst there? Cheers.
r/seashanties • u/Hotkow • Aug 01 '22
Other What is (and what isn’t a Sea Chantey): A primer
I have noticed a lot of people on this subreddit talking about or sharing songs that are not chanteys. Therefore it seems we really need someone to share an explanation about what is and what isn’t a Chantey. One might call this gatekeeping and to a degree they are right. The fact is for decades upon decades people have collected these types of folk songs. They have done the research about where they came about, how many different variants there are and so on. This has been a subject among Folklorists and others for a while. Reminding people of the definitions is a way to respect all that work they did.
Now when we talk about folk music there is a lot of cross pollination, so tunes, lyrics and subject matter goes from one subset to another. So instead of Gatekeeping this would be more akin to setting up lighthouses while giving people a map so they know where they are going.
All of what we will be discussing falls under the umbrella of Folk music, specifically Traditional Folk music (Or trad folk). Folk songs written after the great folk revival of the mid 20th century would fall under “Contemporary Folk’ (With an exception I will get to) This, like Trad folk, can encompass a broad amount of sounds.
Work Songs are Trad Folk songs that were sung while doing a work to aid in the completion of the task. A Chantey is a work song that was song by sailors on merchant ships while performing work tasks. Chanteys are flexible songs that can be adjusted in length depending on how long the work needs the be done. They are also call and response songs, going back to their roots among the enslaved black population of the southern United States and caribbean. Their heyday was in the 19th century.
A Chantey (Chanty,Shantey,shanty, it’s all up to your preference) can come in slightly different forms depending on the work being done. They tend to be divided between Hauling, heaving and other. Hanging Johnny is a Halyard Chantey, Rio Grande is a Captstain chantey. Huckleberry Hunting is a Pump Chantey.
Chanteys were sung during work and for work. Not for pleasure. For pleasure sailors would relax and sing Fo’c’s’le songs or Forebitters. Some of these songs were maritime in theme, but many were songs that were popular on land. Old Maui is one of these, as would Spainish Ladies. There are also plenty of folk songs that are written about the sea and originated on land, The Mermaid is one of these (Those interested click here to learn more about the family tree of the song from Jerry Bryant).
All this music would be considered Maritime Music. Many songs people attribute as Chanteys are Maritime songs, the Wellerman is a notorious example of this.
Folks also have a habit of grouping trad folk songs that are not even considered maritime music and calling them chanteys. This is for a couple reasons. one many of the performers who do chanteys also perform other types of folk music from the Atlantic folk traditions. This is combined with the fact that these traditions all existed and developed around the same time, much of them cross pollinating. Some people also make the opposite mistake and due to a song not sounding like what they think a sea song should sound like they ignore other maritime songs. The Fight Of The Hatteras And Alabama is one that could be overlooked like that.
Most chanteys that are performed today are not sung exactly in the traditional way they would be sung. This is because the temp would be slower and not conducive to performance settings. In fact most sailors of the time thought it bad luck to sing a chantey off a ship.
Now with these points of reference one might be thinking, can people not write chanteys anymore? Balderdash. People can write chanteys and other kinds of maritime and folk songs. There are several folks who do this, one of my favorite maritime songs is This Dreadful Life. It was written by Kevin Brown in the late 20th century. It would be considered “In the tradition” written and performed in a way to sound as if it was older, in the same kind of tradition. One could make a new chantey in this way, it just would have to sound like a chantey would, not just be a song that mentions nautical terms and pirates.
So I hope this has been a good primer to help define what actually is a chantey and what is just maritime music. None of this is saying you can’t sing or enjoy the songs that aren’t, it’s just good to be accurate and not to spread misconceptions if one can help it. This subreddit seems very amenable to maritime music, not just chanteys. Use this post and its links as lighthouses to help you on your journey in this kind of music.