The Gals o' Chile [52-54] (48-50)

For additional and more current info on this and other chanties, please visit my blog:
http://shantiesfromthesevenseas.blogspot.com/

Some chanteys were rather specific to sailors in certain trades. One that I recently recorded, "Talcahuano Gals," was of course specific to whalers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixm3iiK8ewA
It sang about the lovely ladies of the Chilean ports of Talcahuano, Huasco, and Tumbes (Peru). The present outward-bound anchor capstan chantey was specific to the trade in guano and nitrates. Accordingly, these "gals of Chile" come from such ports as Valaparaíso ("Vallipo"), Callao (in Peru), Coquimbo, and Coronel.

Hugill is among few to print this one. He thinks it is, like other "rare" chanteys, less heard due to the fact that not only was it originally very bawdy but also it is difficult to "camouflage" the naughty bits. Needless to say, he has bowdlerized this version a lot, however I think the lyrics he came up with are sufficiently saucy. He hints that some of the original bawdy lyrics came from punning on misheard/mispronounced Spanish phrases. By way of example, he cites the sailor name for the city of Valaparaiso: "Wallop-me-ass-with-a-razor"! (Reminds me of my first, old music teacher, back in my days of playing Jazz, who always rendered the standard tune "Honeysuckle Rose" as "Honey, Suck my Hose"!!) Supposedly, the refrain here, given as "Heave-o, hang 'er hi-lo" was a substitute for one of these puns on Spanish--any guesses?

See the whole "Shanties from the Seven Seas" project, here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=58B55DD66F22060C

Category:

Music

Tags:

• chile
• girls
• chicas
• chilenas
• mujeres
• rucas
• jainas
• senoritas
• peru
• valaparaiso
• callao
• coquimbo
• sea
• shanty
• canción
• chantey

[turbografx16]

Excellent song, haven't heard this one before.

[hultonclint]

There's a lot of cool songs about South America, mostly neglected I think. Mostly it was in important area for whalers and merchant seamen in the nitrate trade.

[raymondcrooke]

I always look forward to the next installment of this project.

[hultonclint]

Thanks, Ray, your presence here is an inspiration to a lot of us "Youtube folksingers".

[1stab]

Makes me want to dance and drink Pisco!