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.
First things first: What is a sea shanty?
Shanties were essentially work songs for sailors. The steady and reliable beat of a shanty would guide sailors to work in sync with each other, likely providing distraction as much as guidance. They were, at their core, practical songs that disappeared with the advent of steam ships that required less on-deck hands.
It is also here that the distinction between a song about the sea and sea shanty. As one article, entitled ‘The Background of Sea Shanties’ (1937), states, ‘There is, too, great confusion between sea songs and shanties, especially perhaps in performance, so that a listener cannot tell into which category a particular song falls, unless he knows by experience’[1]. What separates sea shanties from sea songs is the distinct rhythms and beat that allowed for extensive pulling or hauling work, intended for coordination and accuracy.
Sea shanties ranged from simple to more complicated arrangements but the key was rhythms that were easy to keep track of. For those of you familiar with music theory, this would often be in 4/4 time or, as with some of the Irish-Scottish variants 6/8. They would be led by a lead singer with an expected call and response that would keep time during the hauling or pulling labours.
There were two main types of shanties: Capstan Shanty and Pulling Shanty. The former was to accompany regular rhythmic work. The later was more complicated, intended for spasmodic and irregular work.
‘Disappearance of the sailing ship that was the sole reason for these songs has coincided with a sentimental interest in the vanished craft and in the shanties and sea songs of the sailing-ship era—a romantic interest that was utterly foreign to the spirit and purpose of songs of labour.’
Whates, p. 259
Sea songs on the other were sang in hours of relaxation. They had no other purpose but entertainment, determined by appeal and what sailors could remember. Indeed, not all were about the sea, though they often were about sailors away from home, mimicking the situation sailors were in.
This brings us to the important distinction: Not all songs about the sea are sea shanties.
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]
Are these references to slavery problematic?
While casual in utterance, it is clear that no malice was intended by the resurgence of either sea shanties or sea songs. But, as with everything, the nuances of the context behind the songs provide a deeper understanding of history. Specifically, it further ratifies the deeply entrenched influence of black traditions and history in music and history. An influence so extensive that it extends to our current social trends that guide us through this pandemic.
[1] Whates, Harold “The Background of Sea Shanties.” Music & Letters, vol. 18, no. 3, 1937, pp. 259–264. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/727760.
[2] Scott, Julius S. Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution. Verso, 2018.
Featured Image by Austin Neill on Unsplash
