Some Fridays you just need a good old romantic mythological sea-faring chantey by the likes of Baby Gramps. This one, "Cape Cod Girls," comes from one of the finest "modern" collections of folk songs, Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys.
Ok, maybe purists would beg to differ, but anything that gets me listening to seafaring chanteys has got to be a wonder. This decidedly bawdier song from Rogue's Gallery was previously featured on one of the Sunday Service postings.
There are days when I can't stop playing this song. Looks like this may be one of them.
Cape Cod Girls
Cape Cod girls ain't got no combs
Haul away, haul away
They brush their hair with codfish bones
And we're bound away for Australia
So heave away, me bully, bully boys
Haul away, haul away
Heave her up and don't you make a noise
And we're bound away for Australia
Cape Cod kids ain't got no sleds
They slide down the hills on codfish heads
Cape Cod girls ain't got no frills
They tie their hair with codfish gills
Cape Cod cats ain't got no tails
They lost them all in the northeast gales
--------------------------
the fish
unaware of the bucket...
a cool eveningIssa
translated by David G. Lanoue
best,
Don
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11 comments:
darn tune has me humming Beachboys' "California Girls" (this could go on for days, lol).
as for Issa's poem, so true, isn't it?
many thanks
Somehow this chanty made me feel closer to the ocean--on a rare day when the Pittsburgh sky is blue!
Don, you old sea dog, the convergence of your three million rivers makes the walls of your hut seem to recede forever, so that we are always as unaware of them as of the innumerable stars we see if we turn the bucket upside down over our heads -- and then the universe feels like an ocean in which we shall always swim free.
(Until we fall down in the street again, that is... and then -- bump!)
Donna:
Post coasts are now officially covered ... the Issa is a great one.
Angele:
Yes another amazing day in the 'Burg and somehow the quality of the grey light has changed this early February and I do think that is what sparked my recalling this song (the rolling grey clouds of the Cape) and, somehow, evoked the very lovely blue we had yesterday.
Cheers!
Too paraphrase the most interesting man in the world, "I don't always listen to sea fairing chanties, but when I do I prefer Issa's Untidy Hut selects."
By the by, I love Donna's Prospero-like magic stitching of this great oceangoing track into the wave-catching uplift of those Socal 'Boys of yesteryear -- two worlds that might otherwise not have met, but now may in our minds make rough, sweet music together.
Amazing how that happens, Tom. The magic stitching.
In another context, just emailing with a friend, talking about the connection of John Clare and haiku poets, via our mutual friend, Mr. Blyth.
It really is incredible how we never forget certain of these seemingly 'random' connections.
through the magic of
my newly acquired low
BP
((daily salt intake now be
ing watched very strictly .... down from about 3500
to 1200 or so...
morning BP dropped in 5 days
from 180 / 90 to (just now) 152 / 78..
(before the Medical Police changed the "normal" for my age the "normal" was 170 / 90 (for 'mild' hypertension.
now? they base it on someone ageded 18 and say 140 / 70 ! ))
my comment was
I accidentally
de:leted ...
yes,
Natalie Goldberg.
Her WILD MIND, also a
"trip"
Childhood summers spent at Grandma's place on Buzzard's Bay, sailing in a little ketch with the neighbor's kids, falling in love with Cape Cod girls. This Midwestern land-lubber remembers the Cape with great fondness. Thanks, Don.
Hey-Ho, TC! I just discovered your "wave-catching uplift" here. "The Tempest" being full of music, you really caught that wave. May our days resound with such word crossings. Thanks, TC. (Aside – My favorite Shakespeare play if I had to choose one.)
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