Category: Music in the books

Wrap me up in me oilskin and blankets,
No more on the docks I’ll be seen,
Just tell me old shipmates, I’m taking a trip mates,
And I’ll see you someday on Fiddlers Green.

That was a pretty tune. I ain’t ever heard it before,” commented Benton once the song had come to an end and the small group of men had taken out their pipes and tobacco pouches.

The idea of Fiddler’s Green is based on the maritime myth of an after-life of a paradise for seamen, which was popular in the nineteenth century, where there is perpetual merriment, music, and dancing. The origins of this myth are not entirely clear, but some scholars suggest that it may have been inspired by the Greek myth of the Elysian Fields, a paradise for the dead. A mythical afterlife similar to Heaven, Fiddler’s Green was said to be a place of bliss and happiness in which fiddle music was played for all eternity.…

Both stranded pirates sat in silence for a while, listening to a slow, but pleasant tune with a catchy chorus, to which most of the visitors of the tavern were earnestly singing along with.

Put your money on the barrel,
Rum and baccy on the quay,
Put your money on the barrel,
Drink to the spirits of the sea.

The chorus sung by the patrons of the tavern in the Story Fiddler’s Green taken from the song Spirits of the Sea, which can be found on the double album of the same name by The Dolmen, a folk rock band from Weymouth in the south-west of England. It’d like to thank them for letting me use it in the book. The album was self-released on 6th August 2010. It consists of a collection of original songs, sea shanties, and atmospheric musical arrangements interspersed with tales and narrations of the historical exploits of several well-known pirates.…

“Shaking her head disdainfully to herself, the pirate woman joined in with the final two verses of a familiar drinking song known as The Butcher and the Tailor’s Wife, which her shipmates were rowdily singing, having tired themselves physically with drink and dancing.”

This traditional English folk song dates from the mid-17th century and is known under various names: Benjamin Bowmaneer, The Tailor’s Breeches, The Tailor and the Louse, The Bold Trooper, and The Trooper and the Tailor. In all versions the tailor is subjected to a variety of humiliating indignities. The tailor is generally portrayed as a cowardly man who is dominated by his wife.

The following lyrics are taken from a version by the Briitish folk singer Nic Jones:

Oh it’s of a wealthy tailor, in London town did dwell,
And he had a handsome wife, and her name was Mary Bell.

She’s gone to the butcher’s, a joint of meat to buy,
“What is your will, dear woman?”…

“After an hour or so of frantic prancing and gyrating some of the pirates decided to take a rest from the strenuous physical activity and sat to one side singing an old seaman’s song known as Spanish Ladies.”

Spanish Ladies is a traditional British naval song, describing a voyage from Spain to the Downs from the viewpoint of naval ratings. It is believed to have been inspired when the Royal Navy carried supplies to Spain to aid its resistance to revolutionary France during the War of the First Coalition, which took place from 1793 to 96. Spending a lot of time in Spain during this period it seems many British sailors managed to obtain Spanish wives and lovers, who they either didn’t want to or weren’t able to bring home to England when the war ended.

Can’t wait,” replied the seaman, licking his lips and happily skipping ahead of the group merrily singing to himself.

Heave away, haul away, the ship rolls along
Give a sailor his grog and there’s nothing goes wrong

The Sailor’s Alphabet is a traditional capstan and pumping shanty, sung to relieve the drudgery of these repetitive tasks. There are numerous versions of the song, but most versions follow a standard format, namely that each line of the four-line stanza begins with a letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, starting with the letter A and ending with the letter Z. Individual words can vary from section to section. Resembling a children’s nursery rhyme, the song acts as a memory device for the names of the parts of the ship along with a cheerful chorus that serves to lift the sailors’ spirits. Similar Alphabet songs exist among many communities, such as those of soldiers, bargemen, lumberjacks, and sheepherders.…