 For the Four Airts to guide us and to the Four Winds to get us there. |
Keltic Dead Feature Session |
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Old Maui Song |
Keeping Music in the traditions of our Keltic Dead Alive.
Rolling Down to Old Maui Written by Shaun - Patrick O. Young
Sea “Chanteys” were very popular even before many Celtic folk embraced sea faring trades upon sailing ships. Chanties have their origins from many nations, and these types of colorful songs had their greatest popularity from about 1810 to the end of the 19th century. The word itself evolved from French, “chantez” meaning “you sing,” and they were used for a variety of repetitive sailing activities. The spelling, “Shanty,” was used later.
Rapid songs were used in activities where short movements were required, like pumping, or in handling ropes with tacking “short drag” maneuvers with the sails. Other, slower songs were used where long movements were required like hauling sails up. Still others were used in resting, rowing in deep water, and pulling into port and docking operations.
Hauling Tasks
The first task that has to be done on any ship when going to sea is to “weigh anchor,” or to haul it up. In the early ships, this operation was done with a large wooden cylinder mounted vertically on an axle with holes all around it. This anchor mechanism was called a “windlass.” Sailors would stick wooden manspikes (wooden staves) into the holes and pull the wheel down a turn as far as they could, and put another manspike into a hole to pull it down again.
The hauling motion was a series of short, hard pulls. Many times the anchor would usually settle into the silt, and the sailors would have to perform a rock and roll action with the windlass to dislodge the anchor from the bottom. There were chanties for these actions as well.
The songs changed a bit when the “capstan” was developed for weighing anchor. On this type of anchor mechanism, the large wheel was turned horizontally and had the staves or bars permanently fixed on the wheel. Each man would take a capstan bar and would plod around the capstan to weigh anchor.
Pumping Tasks
Most wooden ships leak to some degree, and it was the sailors’ job to pump, sometimes long and often. Almost any short-haul song could be used for pumping. These manual pumps were designed where two sailors would saw back and forth with pumper arms, and the rapid songs were perfect for these tasks.
Loading Tasks
Other tasks that had short haul songs with them involved activities on cargo ships where the sailors would do the stevedore work or packing operations. Short haul songs worked well for loading and unloading cargo.
Forecastle Songs
As mentioned, many songs were created in rest periods as well. The forecastle, or sometimes called, the “foc’sle,” was located on the upper deck forward of the foremast (or forward of the four channels). On merchantman ships this was where the crew was housed, and it was normally in these areas of the sailing ships where the crew spent their off-duty time. The songs created here were used to entertain as well as for working.
Types of Sailing Ships
The “packetships” were the first of the large cargo ships. In time, their design became more sleek and graceful and preceded the arrival of the “clipperships.” It is these clipperships that most think of when envisioning the grand sailing days in the 19th century. These clipperships were more than just cargo ships, as they were also used for whaling in the time when the world demanded vast quantities of whale products, which almost drove some whale species to extinction.
Of these cargo carrying ships, there were basically two types. The “schooners” were designed and rigged to be handled by a smaller crew. The “brigantines,” on the other hand, were full-sailed vessels, requiring that each sail must be furled and unfurled separately, as well as tacked at angles to the wind. These types of square-sailed vessels had more power, but they also required a larger crew.
Life at Sea
Sailing on the seas was and still is hard work and lonely. Many of the songs were about women with whom they met in the ports. It was pretty universal, even today, that when sailors come into port, they usually indulged themselves to excess on shore leave, spending their hard earned wages unwisely and often consorting with ladies of bad reputations and ill will.
Life on these sailing ships was filled with peril and hardships that are not often experienced by sailing men today. When these sailing ships floundered and succumbed to the heavy seas, there was little chance of living through it. Many songs would account for crews who would stoically remain at their posts on deck to the end, “skipping at the top,” while the “landlubbers” huddled belowdecks helplessly awaiting their fate.
The Shantyman
Most chanties are led by a “Shantyman.” This individual would have a large repertoire of songs to fit almost any situation or activity. He was skilled in leading the song, and usually had a loud voice that could be heard clearly above the noise of the work, the waves, the wind, birds, and the general clatter of the ship.
Most often, the shantyman would lead the song, and the crew would follow with the refrains. As the purpose of most chanties was for work activities, the shantyman would have to be sensitive to the mood of the situation and be able to change it by choosing the right song at the right time. Tenors usually carried their songs better, and these types of songs normally had full chesty sounds with limited decorations or subtleties.
Old Maui or Rolling Down to Old Maui
The song and tune presented is an evolution of one that was collected by Gale Huntington, who found the song from the log of ship, Atkins Adams, out of New Bedford. The insert was written as “Rolling Down to Mohee,” in 1858.
Versions of the lyrics were found in Joanna Colcord’s Songs of the American Sailormen (1938), but there was no song associated with it. Huntington found a tune for it in Frederick Harlow’s Chanteying Aboard American Ships (1962).
As most chantey songs were accompanied by the accordion or the fiddle, the Keltic Dead has arranged the tune for “Rolling Down to Old Maui” to play with the low-D, diatonic harmonica to keep in the spirit of that type of sound. Lyrics
The lyrics of Rolling Down to Old Maui, shown below, is the most popular version. Though these lyrics are not the original lyrics found in the log of 1858 for Rolling Down to Mohee, the intent and meaning is clearly the same.
Old Maui
It's a damn tough life full of toil and strife We whalemen undergo. And we don't give a damn when the day is done How hard the winds did blow.
For we're homeward bound from the Arctic ground With a good ship, taut and free And we don't give a damn when we drink our rum With the girls of Old Maui.
Rolling down to Old Maui, me boys Rolling down to Old Maui We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground Rolling down to Old Maui.
Once more we sail with a northerly gale Through the ice and wind and rain. Them native maids, them tropical glades, We soon shall see again.
Six hellish months have passed away One the cold Kamchatka Sea, But now we're bound from the Arctic ground Rolling down to Old Maui.
Rolling down to Old Maui, me boys Rolling down to Old Maui We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground Rolling down to Old Maui.
Once more we sail with a northerly gale Towards our own, island home. Our mainmast sprung, our whaling done, And we ain't go far to roam.
Our stuns'l boom is carried away What care we for that sound? For a living gale is after us, Thank God - we're homeward bound.
Rolling down to Old Maui, me boys Rolling down to Old Maui We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground Rolling down to Old Maui.
How soft the breeze through the island trees, Now that ice is far astern. Them native maids, them tropical glades Is a-waiting our return.
Even now their soft brown eyes look out Hoping some fine day to see Our baggy sails runnin' 'fore the gales Rolling down to Old Maui.
Rolling down to Old Maui, me boys Rolling down to Old Maui We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground Rolling down to Old Maui.
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