Shanty Writer Contestants: Shanties are songs of the sailors (of which there are just a few in Peter Pan although they be pirate-sailors!). Be sure your shanty evokes a feeling or possibly gives a warning or a caution. Write a one-verse shanty, four lines to the verse. Submit more than one! Theme yours to Peter Pan or not. Up to you. For examples and for more information about shanties, take a look below, at shanties sung at the Budd Bay Shanty Sings here in Olympia. (Grades 7-9; Grades 10-12)

Music From Budd Bay Shanty Sings

Please Note: The information below was provided to Capital Playhouse by Burt Meyer of the Budd Bay Shanty Singers.  Thank you very much, Burt!

IN THE TRADITION SHANTIES were the work songs of the sailors, learned as an oral tradition by being sung while working aboard ship.  They are a capella “call and response” songs, with one shantyman leading and the crew answering.  They were simple, with a beat to match a task, and quality voices or harmony were rare.  Some tasks were long and the shantyman invented extra verses or borrowed from other songs.  Being superstitious, the sailors never sang shanties as off-duty entertainment, though verses were sometimes shared with SAILOR SONGS OR SEA SONGS which were sung during the dog watch or ashore. They were ballads and other songs about their adventures and affairs of the heart (or the moment). 

TO LEARN MORE about the Budd Bay Buccaneers, the organization has a page on the "Olympia Folklore Society" website: home.comcast.net/~burtdabard. The site often includes Budd Bay Shanty events. 

FIDDLERS GREEN
Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumper
No more on the docks I'll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I'm takin' a trip, mates
And I'll see you someday in Fiddlers Green

DOWN TO OLD MAUI
Rolling down to old Maui, me boys
Rolling down to old Maui
We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground
Rolling down to old Maui

MINGALAY
Heel-ya-ho boys, let her go boys,
bring her head 'round, and all together.
Heel-ya-ho boys, let her go boys,
sailing homeward, to Mingalay.

CHICKEN ON A RAFT
res: Hi ho chicken on a raft (4X)
Chicken on a raft on a Monday morning
Oh what a terrible sight to see
res:  Sittin' there pickin' on a chicken on a raft
res:  Chicken on a raft (4X)

ROLLING HOME
Rolling home, rolling home,
Rolling home across the sea,
Rolling home to old New England,
Rolling home dear land to thee.

PADDY WEST
Put on your dungaree jacket,
And walk up lookin' yer best
And tell 'em that you're a poor sailor lad
That comes from Paddy West

NORTHWEST PASSAGE
Ah for just one time, I would take the Northwest Passage To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea Tracing one warm line,  thru a land so white and savage And make a Northwest passage to the sea

HIELAND LADDIE
res: Bonny laddie, hieland laddie
res: Bonny hieland laddie
Way, hay and away we go Bonnie laddie, hieland laddie
Way, hay and away we go, Bonnie hieland laddie