Overview

Passed down in the oral tradition and sung as working songs, sea shanties tell the compelling human stories of life on the water: hard labor, battling the elements, pining for distant loves and far-away homes. The music's rhythms are designed to galvanize the group effort of heaving, pushing, and pulling to weigh anchor, wind rope around a capstan, or set sail. Acclaimed shanty devotee Gerry Smyth presents the background to each shanty alongside musical notation. The lyrics are elaborated upon with explanations of terminology, context including historical facts and accounts of life at sea, and the characters, both fictional and nonfictional, that appear in the songs from the great age of sail to the last days of square-rig.

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9780295747286

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Reviews

The result of years of research, this illustrated book features more than 40 shanties and 10 ballads, complete with their lyrics and history. Designed to be used by performers, the volume brings to life the art form. --Library Journal This book is designed to be used by performers and ensembleslooking for singable versions of these ribald and entertaining songs. --New Books in Performing Arts

This book is designed to be used by performers and ensembleslooking for singable versions of these ribald and entertaining songs. --New Books in Performing Arts The result of years of research, this illustrated book features more than 40 shanties and 10 ballads, complete with their lyrics and history. Designed to be used by performers, the volume brings to life the art form. --Library Journal

Author Information

Gerry Smyth is professor of English at Liverpool John Moores University. The work of illustrator and printmaker Jonny Hannah has beenfeatured in Vogue, the New York Times, and the Boston Globe and in the publication Greetings from Darktown.

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