Blow, Boys, Blow
A halliard shanty for 2 to 4 singers, as R. R. Terry printed it in 1921: the soprano is the shantyman and sings each solo line alone, and everyone answers "Blow, boys blow" and "Blow my bully boys blow" in harmony, on Terry's own chords. Six verses about a Yankee ship and what her crew got to eat.
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The first verse
Words: traditional sea shanty (as printed by R. R. Terry, 1921)Tune: traditional sea shanty (as printed by R. R. Terry, 1921)
A Yankee ship came down the river,Blow, boys blow.Her masts and yards they shine like silver.Blow my bully boys blow.
About Blow, Boys, Blow
Blow, Boys, Blow is a halliard shanty, sung for hoisting the sails, about a Yankee ship and what her crew got to eat. Richard Terry notes that spotless decks, and masts and yards that "shone like silver", were the marks of a Yankee packet ship, kept that way by a terrible discipline. Our arrangement is read from his Shanty Book of 1921, where it is called Blow my bully boys, a whole tone higher, in G, on the harmony of his piano part. This is six of his eight verses for 2 to 4 singers: the soprano is the shantyman, singing each solo line alone, and everyone answers "Blow, boys blow." and "Blow my bully boys blow."
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