Roll the Old Chariot Around

April 14, 2016 8:48 PM

Roll the Old Chariot - David Coffey leads an entire festival's worth of sea-shanty enthusiasts into far more than the sum of their whole.
posted by Slap*Happy (22 comments total)

Nice.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:53 PM on April 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had no idea I liked maritime folk until just now.
posted by a_curious_koala at 8:57 PM on April 14, 2016 [6 favorites]

Needs more tight striped shirts.
posted by thecjm at 8:59 PM on April 14, 2016

I needed this tonight. Thank you.
posted by dogheart at 9:04 PM on April 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's "chariot along"
posted by Miko at 9:07 PM on April 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

Also, if you enjoy being part of a big
Group of people drawn into a massive collective chorus of 4 through 8 part harmony singing sea songs, please, immediately put onto your calendar the annual mystic seaport sea music festival - second full weekend in June - at which you can have 84+ hours of this sort of singing experience led by artists like David coffin and his peers worldwide. See you there!
posted by Miko at 9:14 PM on April 14, 2016 [7 favorites]

Hey! Any Canadians in the audience? You know what's coming next!*

_{*Obligatory, had to do it.}

I had no idea I liked maritime folk music until just now.

It can leave you feeling a bit Bully in the Alley.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:33 PM on April 14, 2016 [7 favorites]

Great stuff!
posted by Sing Fool Sing at 9:35 PM on April 14, 2016

Here's the link! Sorry, tricky on mobile. Epicenter of sea music in the US.
posted by Miko at 9:39 PM on April 14, 2016 [4 favorites]

Hey! Any Canadians in the audience?

Noooooooooo

(ok, to be fair, I've done my share of inflicting, er, singing it myself, so I can hardly complain)
posted by Sing Fool Sing at 9:40 PM on April 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

In the Age of Sail, there were a half dozen Major Players in maritime trade and naval warfare, and a few dozen more contenders. I know the French and francophone Canadiens in the Maritimes have their Sailor's Laments (which remains infuriatingly ungoogleable)... do the Dutch or the Sweedish or the Spanish of the 1600's-1800's have their own musical traditions? What do they sound like?

I know the African Americans in the Age of Sail, slave and free, making their living from the sea had their own working music, and it's awesome.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:52 PM on April 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

It's an enormous topic. Yes, they're all part of the sea music tradtiion - the world's first global music. From the middle eastern gulf ports to the caribbean to the south pacific to the arctic, every maritime community had maritime song, and it all traveled and mixed. It's a bigger topic than I can treat here now. BUt if you're interested, start digging.
posted by Miko at 10:54 PM on April 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

If you live in/near Seattle and this sort of thing appeals, there's a chantey sing in South Lake Union every second Friday of the month. (The location can vary, so be sure to check the website. Obviously it is best when held on a boat.)
posted by fermion at 11:34 PM on April 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oh, that was just wonderful. Thank you! I must go listen to that again.
posted by BoscosMom at 1:44 AM on April 15, 2016

please, immediately put onto your calendar the annual mystic seaport sea music festival

Yeah! I was going to bring up Mystic Seaport! I've heard there's shanty-related stuff year-round, but the festival is supposed to be great. I live in California, so it's hard for me to get there, but at some point I'll have to make a trip to visit a bunch of the New England historical sites.
posted by teponaztli at 2:01 AM on April 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

That was wonderful! I first discovered my love for sea shanties due to the loose Pirates of the Caribbean tie-in, Rogues Gallery. Been a fan ever since.
posted by analoghotdog at 2:25 AM on April 15, 2016

I saw Kings of the South Seas last year, and I was originally rolling my eyes, because I thought it was just a bunch of beardy hipsters doing things that sound like sea shanties, but then the singer started talking about how they did all their research and found the original broadsides, and I totally changed my mind and fell in love with them.
posted by Katemonkey at 2:33 AM on April 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Proud parent moment when the kiddo announced he was playing I think Assassin's Creed where the sailors would break into shanties. And he knew most of them well enough to sing along. All those folk festivals paid off!
posted by jeribus at 3:14 AM on April 15, 2016

Attention, Baltimore! The Fells Point Privateer Festival is this very weekend!
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:47 AM on April 15, 2016

Assassin's Creed where the sailors would break into shanties

That soundtrack is pretty great and one of the best parts of the game. It's pretty great!
posted by mayonnaises at 6:11 AM on April 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

Love this video. Have the curious conviction that this guy is an alternate universe version of my Dad, from Earth-Maritime (Earth-2-if-by-sea in the pre-crisis era)
posted by unregistered_animagus at 7:24 AM on April 15, 2016

I've loved Nelson's Blood ever since the now defunct Dragon's Landing Inn used it as their theme song.

On other good nautrical songs, might I recommend Your Last Goodbye by Bruce Moss? Not one to sing boisterously in a large group, but still...
posted by Canageek at 11:50 AM on April 16, 2016