| features in: Album Chart of 1957 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1950s |
Sea songs and shanties sung by A.L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl, accompanied by Alf Edwards (concertina), Ralph Rinzler (guitar, banjo and mandolin) and Steve Benbow (guitar). There's not a bad song on this fine set, ably veering from the rambunctious to the sensitive as required. In his excellent liner notes, A.L. Lloyd writes a well-informed paragraph about each song; this is what he had to say about my side one standout, “Handsome Cabin Boy”:
“The Handsome Cabin Boy portrays a common sailor's dream that among the crew is a girl dressed as a boy. Oddly enough, in songs based on this fantasy, it is nearly always an officer who discovers the girl's identity. In this case the plight of the pregnant cabin “boy” might be considered tragic, seen from the girl's viewpoint. But as sailors see it, the situation is inexhaustibly comic. The version of this much-loved ballad that is sung here is unusual for the unequivocal role played by the captain's wife.”
Of my favourites on side 2 (“Whup Jamboree” and “Paddy West”) this is what he had to say:
“Whup Jamboree is one of the wildest and most exultant of homeward-bound shanties. The progress through the English Channel and into London River goes as a fast clip, and all hand are looking forward eagerly to what the girls ashore have to offer. From its references to Blackwell Dock, this shanty, used for work at the capstan, apparently rose among sailors in the Far East run.”
“Mr West is a redoubtable figure in the folklore of the sea. He was a Liverpool boarding-house keeper in the latter days of sail, who provided ship captains with crews, as a side-line. He would guarantee that every man he supplied had crossed the Line and been round the Horn several times. In order to say so with a clear conscience, he gave greenhorns a curious course in seamanship, described in this jesting ballad. It was a great favourite with “Scouse” (Liverpool) sailors.
I understand this was one of Captain Beefheart's favourite records and that's a sure-fire seal of approval for the authenticity within the all-invested delivery.
The Jukebox Rebel
17–Apr–2018
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [02:33]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Row Bullies Row (Traditional) Folk |
| A2 | [00:45]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Paddy Doyle (Traditional) Folk |
| A3 | [01:24]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Wild Goose Shanty (Traditional) Folk |
| A4 | [02:50]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - While Cruising Around Yarmouth (Traditional) Folk |
| A5 | [00:27] Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Old Billy Riley (Traditional) Folk |
| A6 | [04:39]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Handsome Cabin Boy (Traditional) Folk |
| A7 | [02:19]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - South Australia (Traditional) Folk |
| A8 | [01:35]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Blow, Boys, Blow (Traditional) Folk |
| B1 | [01:19]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Whup Jamboree (Traditional) Folk |
| B2 | [03:22]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Banks Of Newfoundland (Traditional) Folk |
| B3 | [01:50] Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Whiskey Johnny (Traditional) Folk |
| B4 | [03:28] Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Do Me Ama (Traditional) Folk |
| B5 | [02:09]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Jack Tar (Traditional) Folk |
| B6 | [04:22]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Paddy West (Traditional) Folk |
| B7 | [00:42] Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - Haul On Bowline (Traditional) Folk |
| B8 | [01:10]  Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd - A Hundred Years Ago (Traditional) Folk |
