The Longest Johns, April 8, 2021
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents general information about sea shanties with a focus on Black people's influences on sea shanties.
This post also showcases the "Wellerman" song which went viral on Tik Tok during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns in 2021.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown composers of this song and thanks to the collectors of this song. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in these videos.
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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT SEA SHANTIES
EXCERPT #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_shanty
"A sea shanty, shanty, chantey, or chanty (/ˈʃæntiː/) is a genre of traditional folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large merchant sailing vessels. The term shanty most accurately refers to a specific style of work song belonging to this historical repertoire. However, in recent, popular usage, the scope of its definition is sometimes expanded to admit a wider range of repertoire and characteristics, or to refer to a "maritime work song" in general.
From Latin cantare via French chanter,[1] the word shanty emerged in the mid-19th century in reference to an appreciably distinct genre of work song, developed especially on merchant vessels, that had come to prominence in the decades prior to the American Civil War.[2] Shanty songs functioned to synchronize and thereby optimize labor, in what had then become larger vessels having smaller crews and operating on stricter schedules.[3] The practice of singing shanties eventually became ubiquitous internationally and throughout the era of wind-driven packet and clipper ships.
Shanties had antecedents in the working chants of British and other national maritime traditions, such as those sung while manually loading vessels with cotton in ports of the southern United States. Shanty repertoire borrowed from the contemporary popular music enjoyed by sailors, including minstrel music, popular marches, and land-based folk songs, which were then adapted to suit musical forms matching the various labor tasks required to operate a sailing ship. Such tasks, which usually required a coordinated group effort in either a pulling or pushing action, included weighing anchor and setting sail.
The shanty genre was typified by flexible lyrical forms, which in practice provided for much improvisation and the ability to lengthen or shorten a song to match the circumstances. Its hallmark was call and response, performed between a soloist and the rest of the workers in chorus. The leader, called the shantyman, was appreciated for his piquant language, lyrical wit, and strong voice. Shanties were sung without instrumental accompaniment and, historically speaking, they were only sung in work-based rather than entertainment-oriented contexts. Although most prominent in English, shanties have been created in or translated into other European languages.
The switch to steam-powered ships and the use of machines for shipboard tasks by the end of the 19th century meant that shanties gradually ceased to serve a practical function. Their use as work songs became negligible in the first half of the 20th century. Information about shanties was preserved by veteran sailors and folklorist song-collectors, and their written and audio-recorded work provided resources that would later support a revival in singing shanties as a land-based leisure activity. Commercial musical recordings, popular literature, and other media, especially since the 1920s, have inspired interest in shanties among landlubbers. Contemporary performances of these songs range from the "traditional" style of maritime music to various modern music genres."...
EXCERPT #2
From https://avidbards.com/2021/02/05/the-black-history-of-sea-shanties/ "The Black History of Sea Shanties" by Scheherazade Khan, February 5, 2021
"Sea shanties; They’re everywhere you turn online. After Scottish postman, Nathan Evans’, videos on TikTok singing sea shanties went viral, sea shanties has seemed to become the anthem of the latest lockdowns, a renaissance of shanties if you will. Indeed, they were so popular that Evans has recently signed with Universal’s Polydor Records.
The incredibly catchy tunes and lyrics, these folk songs have garnered so much attention that the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber also got involved. But like with all things on this blog, it’s the story behind sea shanties that interests me the most. Specifically, the black history and influence on the sea faring tunes.
[…]
Where did sea shanties come from?
While the specific origin of the work songs is unknown, we
can trace various influences in both the name and composition. The name itself
seems to have French roots, with the word ‘shanty’ being an anglicised from the
French verb ‘chanter’ meaning to sing.
Additionally, the various elements inherent to shanties, the call and response, rhythmic pounding and similarity to gospel music, were adaptions from work songs of enslaved people. British sailors involved in slave trading would have heard work songs in the Caribbean and American ports as slaves packed up cotton or other cargo for the ships. There they merged with British and Irish balladry to form what are recognisable today.
The popular ‘Wellerman’ that can be credited with the resurgence of shanties has nevertheless come with controversy as some have pointed out that it is not actually a sea shanty. Rather, it is a whaling song. A 19th century sea song about a whaling ship owned by the Weller brothers in New Zealand.
Nevertheless, the vestiges of influence from the slave trade are apparent in the reference to the triangular trade: ‘Soon may the Wellerman come/ To bring us sugar and tea and rum.’ Enslaved Africans would be sold to work on plantations so that these products could be traded.
Moreover, the sea offered an escape for many enslaved Africans. The Common Wind by Julius Scott articulates how ‘Black people . . . tried to learn a smattering of nautical terminology to pass themselves off a sailors’ going on to say that ‘It’s no coincidence that British sea shanties bear striking resemblances to Caribbean slave songs’.[2]
Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellerman
"Origins
Known as “Soon May the Wellerman Come” as well as
“Wellerman” or “The Wellerman,” the sea shanty from New Zealand dates back to
1860.
A long song with lots of lyrics, the song likely provided a great deal of meaning and accompaniment to long days in the country as shore whalers hunted their giant sea mammals for flesh and oil.
The title of the song is a reference to supply ships owned by the Weller brothers, who were some of the earliest European settlers of the Otago region of New Zealand.
"Soon May the Wellerman Come", also known as "Wellerman" or "The Wellerman", is a folk song in ballad style[2] first published in New Zealand in the 1970s. The song refers to the "wellermen", pointing to supply ships owned by the Weller brothers, who were amongst the earliest European settlers of Otago.
In early 2021, a cover by Scottish song artist Nathan Evans became a viral hit on the social media site TikTok, leading to a "social media craze" around sea shanties and maritime songs.[2][3][4]
Historical background
The history of whaling in New Zealand stretches from the
late eighteenth century to 1965. In 1831, the British-born Weller brothers
Edward, George and Joseph, who had immigrated to Sydney in 1829, founded a
whaling station at Otakou near modern Dunedin in the South Island of New
Zealand, seventeen years before Dunedin was established.[7] Speaking at
centennial celebrations in 1931, New Zealand's Governor General Lord Bledisloe
recalled how the Weller brothers had on their voyage to New Zealand "brought
in the 'Lucy Ann' (the Weller brothers' barque) a good deal of rum and a good
deal of gunpowder...and some at least were rum characters".[7] From 1833,
the Weller brothers sold provisions to whalers in New Zealand from their base
at Otakou, which they had named "Otago" in approximation of the local
Māori pronunciation.[7] Their employees became known as
"wellermen".[8][7] Unlike whaling in the Atlantic and northern
Pacific, whalers in New Zealand practised shore-based whaling which required
them to process the whale carcasses on land.[9] The industry drew whalers to
New Zealand from a diverse range of backgrounds encompassing not just the
British Isles but also Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Pacific Islanders
and Indigenous Australians.[9] The whalers depended on good relations with the
local Māori people and the whaling industry integrated Māori into the global
economy and produced hundreds of intermarriages between whalers and local
Māori, including Edward Weller himself, who was twice married to Māori women,[9]
thus linking the Wellers to one of the most prominent local Māori families, the
Ellisons.
At its peak in 1834, the Otakou station was producing 310 tons of whale oil a year[7] and became the centre of a network of seven stations that formed a highly profitable enterprise for the Wellers, employing as many as 85 people at Otago alone.[10] From the Otakou base the Wellers branched out into industries as diverse as "timber, spars, flax, potatoes, dried fish, Māori artefacts, and even tattooed Māori heads which were in keen demand in Sydney".[11] However, given that the Colony of New Zealand would not be declared until 1840, the Wellers were treated as foreign traders and were affected by protectionist British import tariffs on whale oil.[10] By 1835, the year that Joseph Weller died in Otago, the brothers became convinced of the need to abandon the station even as they branched out into massive land purchases in New Zealand, which amounted to nearly 3 million acres (12,000 km2) by 1840.[11] The Weller brothers' success in the whaling industry was fleeting, and they were declared bankrupt in 1840 after failed attempts at large-scale land purchase in New South Wales.[10] The Otakou station closed in 1841.[7] In 1841, the Court of Claims in New South Wales ruled that the Weller brothers' purchases of land in New Zealand were legally invalid, after which the Wellers "slipped unobtrusively out of the pages of New Zealand history".[11] Commercial whaling in New Zealand continued until the 1960s."...
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Excerpt #2
from https://americansongwriter.com/meaning-of-the-wellerman-sea-shanty-song-lyrics/ "Behind the Meaning of the Sea Ballad “The Wellerman”" by Jacob Uitti, July 13, 2022
.."Popularity on TikTok
In 2021, Scottish singer Nathan Evans earned a viral hit on
the social media platform TikTok for his cover of “The Wellerman.” The
popularity of the track also led to a boon in popularity around sea songs, in
general. Check out Evans’ rendition of the song below.
New Zealand Whaling
Whaling in New Zealand dates back to the late 1700s through
the mid-20th Century.
In 1831, the British-born trio of Weller brothers—Edward, George, and Joseph—who had emigrated to Sydney, Australia two years prior, created a whaling station at Otakou on the South Island of New Zealand.
The Weller brothers were known then for shipping many important items, including luxury supplies like rum and gun powder. From 1833, the Weller brothers made a name for themselves, supplying whalers in New Zealand with what they needed. Their employees, thus, became known as “wellermen.”
While whaling has been popular in many regions around the world, in New Zealand, whalers practiced what’s known as “shore-based” whaling, which requires them to process the whale carcasses on land, not at sea. It was a great deal of work and require a song with catchiness and meaning that provided some stability to them as they toiled.
At its peak in the early 1800s, the Otakou station produced 310 tons of whale oil per year. It, therefore, was a financial boon to the Weller brothers, too. Commercial whaling in New Zealand continued until the 1960s."...
And the name of the ship was the Billy of Tea
The winds blew up, her bow dipped down
Blow, my bully boys, blow (huh)
She had not been two weeks from shore
When down on her a right whale
bore
The captain called all hands and swore
He'd take that whale in tow
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
We'll take our leave and go
She had not been two weeks from shore
When down on her a right whale
bore
The captain called all hands and swore
He'd take that whale in tow
Before the boat had hit the water
The whale's tail came up and caught her
All hands to the side harpooned and
When she dived down below (huh)
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
Soon may the Wellerman come
One day, when the tonguin' is done
Soon may the Wellerman come
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
Mark Norman Francis, Jan 18, 2021 #shantytok #wellerman #mashup
Taking many of the Wellerman Tiktok #shantytok videos, and
reconstructing them into one supercut so you can compare what each successive
addition brings.
0:00 Nathan Evans https://www.tiktok.com/@nathanevanss/...
0:30 Tony Bodell https://www.tiktok.com/@bassbaritony8...
0:45 Luke Taylor https://www.tiktok.com/@_luke.the.voi...
1:00 Halen Sky https://www.tiktok.com/@halensky/vide...
1:05 Liann https://www.tiktok.com/@lianncan/vide...
1:15 Aaron Sloan https://www.tiktok.com/@apsloan01/vid...
1:30 Bobby Waters https://www.tiktok.com/@the.bobbybass...
1:35 Jonny Stewart https://www.tiktok.com/@jonnystewartb...
1:40 David Tkon https://www.tiktok.com/@tkondavid_/vi...
1:50 André Sguerra https://www.tiktok.com/@sguerraandre/...
2:00 Jemonie Wilson https://www.tiktok.com/@yungmoneymool...
2:10 The Satin Dollz https://www.tiktok.com/@satindollz/vi...
2:25 Dragon ari64 https://www.tiktok.com/@dragonari64/v...
2:50 Luke Taylor https://www.tiktok.com/@_luke.the.voi...
3:00 miaasanomusic https://www.tiktok.com/@miaasanomusic...
3:20 Lord Annika https://www.tiktok.com/@anipeterson/v...
4:00 ARGULES https://www.tiktok.com/@thats.mindblo...
4:02 Hank Green https://www.tiktok.com/@hankgreen1/vi...
4:22 Mïrändä https://www.tiktok.com/@miiirandamusi...
4:41 End screen #mashup #wellerman #supercut
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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
(with numbers added for referencing purposes only.)
2021
1. @rowanandwillowsdad
"wow the young have discovered sea shanties"
Reply
2.
"and the rest of us :-)"
Reply
3.
"indeed we have"
**
Reply
4. @NordriOfUthgard
"Finally a trend to get behind. ;)"
Reply
5.
"Finally tik tok did something awesome for once"
**
6. @thesupersonicstig
"It's amazing how an old 1800s sea shanty has been resurrected."
Reply
7. @stephenbarringer235, 2023
"What's so fascinating about this to me is the range of history it brings. Melodies hundreds of years old brought through 19th-century techniques of symphonic harmony, and then into the 21st century with electronic rhythm, backing and dance. Just this epic sweep of a musical journey. 
"
8.@Jethedril
"You can really see and feel the heart that these people put into this. It's genuine, wholesome, and most of all.... BEAUTIFUL. It's honestly moving. Sometimes the small things are really the big things in life."
**
9. @lukedstaten
"This is proof that even in challenging times we can still work around our obstacles to combine our unique talents and skills to make THIS! A masterpiece. I have a lot of respect for people who put heart into their craft."
10. @nikitaheredia416
"Here is proof that the vocals are the most powerful and beautiful instruments to creat beautiful songs."
11. @TagSpamCop
"Sorry, but this needs all male voices and no violin. I love me a lot of Celtic and traditional female voices - and the performers in this are great and really haunting - but this specific song needs to be all-male. If only because the whalers would have all been men, all likely to die to earn a living for their families. And the violin has too much going on. The beauty of this song it the a capellla nature. The electo version is its own thing somehow."
12. @ammaleslie509
"The guy in the hoodie who comes in at 1:40 adds a very haunting harmony 
"
13. @TheBLURBLURBLURBLUR
"I sing these songs at faires, I have listened to them for years. I would never, EVER, have predicted they make a comeback. But, I guess in the times, the songs of isolation and survival and togetherness make sense. This is exactly what a shanty is. To hear the harmony of these people, to see strangers come together and sing a song and... man I just wanna cry it's so beautiful to me."
Reply
14. @AlexandreKarpov
"You and me bro. Sea shanties experiencing such an unexpected revival at such a time... and I am loving every moment of it!"
15. @SkyShazad
"Even though we are Traped in this Lockdown We can all come together In ways not possible before, Different races, Backgrounds etc from all over the WORLD, TOGETHER to share Joy, what an awesome thing to Witness In Terrible Times.. STAY SAFE STAY AWESOME, ONE LOVE"
16. @judithward4885
"This is absolutely brilliant. In the midst of all the depressing news about COVID-19 I saw this on the news and it brightened my day. Now I am hooked on it."
17. @jasmeralia
"This 8s an amazing way to showcase the crazy amount of versions that have been made, and the best aspects of social media. Like, no, collaborative singing was not an original goal of the internet (since the idea of streamed video was implausible/unthinkable at the time), but it's very, very much in the spirit of what the founders of the internet were thinking at the time."
18. @markmason-elliott3409, 2022
"Incredibly moving - doing what sea shanties were made for - to unite and bond a crew to achieve a common purpose."
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