The Wings of a Goney
Recent Recordings of Sea Music
by Steve Winick

If I had the wings of a goney, my boys
I'd spread them and fly home…

So says the whalerman, when life is rough at sea. But a lot of people nowadays don't share his sentiment; they find the sea fascinating, along with the culture of sailors, fishermen, and others who extracted their living from the wide and wasteful ocean. Now's a good time to be a sea enthusiast, with a lot of good discs of seafaring music on the market.

If you're looking for a variety of great singers, you can't beat Around Cape Horn [Topic TSCD499 (1998)], a new compilation CD from the vast and varied Topic Records catalog. Featuring classic tracks from English revivalists both living (Louis Killen, Frankie Armstrong, Roy Harris) and dead (Ewan MacColl, A.L. Lloyd, Peter Bellamy), Around Cape Horn is a fine introduction to shanties and sea songs. Classic tracks include Lloyd's version of "Short Jacket and White Trousers," Roy Harris' take on a Sam Larner favorite, "The Dockyard Gate," and Mike Waterson's brilliant singing of "The Man O' War." There are a few lovely harmony duets — one by Mike and Norma Waterson and another by Peter Bellamy with himself (overdubbed, of course). Aside from these, the arrangements are on the basic side: just a solo singer, occasionally accompanied by a concertina or a fiddle. One result is that the song texts, and the wit and verbal skill of their anonymous composers, become particularly clear; I never before noticed the well- realized descriptive detail about the despicable captain in "The Maid on the Shore": he "spits out his chew" before telling the maid of his plans to rape her and then let the crew do the same. Her response is equally delightful: Outwardly, she exclaims, "Oh, thank you, oh thank you! It's just what I've been waiting for!" while inwardly she figures out how to escape untouched and carry away all of the sailors' loot. Meanwhile, one of Lloyd's songs, a version of "Farewell Nancy," contains the charming rhyme, "Your little behind love, would freeze in the wind love." Perhaps it's not quite so feminist a sentiment, but it's beautifully expressed nonetheless! ...