'The Balaena' -A Whaling Song with old photos from Dundee, Scotland.

This song, 'The Balaena', is a whaling song from old Dundee (sung here by Lowland Folk) and is taken from a vinyl album I've had for many years. My great grandfather was apparently a whaler from Dundee, but I have no idea if he ever sailed on this 'Balaena'! What I do know is that on one of his trips to Greenland he got iced in for so long that when he got back home he walked in and frightened my great grandmother who, of course, had given up hope for his safe return, and took him for a stranger. If he happened to return today he would (no doubt) be very disappointed to find that this great grandchild is very anti-whaling! But the world & its situations have changed greatly in the last 100 or so years! Anyway, I hope you like this great old song & the visuals.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Whaling
• Sailing Ships
• Scottish Seafaring History
• Scottish Folk Music
• Dundee Songs
• Dundee scenes
• Arctic
• animation art

[MrWhanlon]

This is a great version of the song The Balaena by the Lowland Folk Four, a Dundee folk group who were very popular during the sixties in the folk clubs in the north east of Scotland,If you have any more of their music please post it as there are still a few old Scottish folk music lovers who would really enjoy it.

Regards BillH

[gruntlesnoot]

@MrWhanlon Dear Mr. Whanlon, thank you so much for watching this video. Once I get over the traumas (see elsewhere on Gruntlesnoot!) of the end of the 2010 Aussie Rules season, I promise you, I'll get on to it! (But then there's the Ashes series coming up, isn't there?) I tried to match the images to the lyrics as much as I could but sometimes it gets impossible.

Thanks again!

Gruntlesnoot.

[alderneyfred]

A lot of good illustrations I haven't seen before. The American whalers were very dismissive of the British whalers, calling them "Plum pudding whalers" as they'd be home for Christmas each year, whereas the American whalers often took three years or more sailing round the world on a whaling cruise. On the other hand the Scottish vessels had engines fitted so they didn't get stuck in the Arctic ice by bad winds, whereas the American fleet lost a number of vessels one bad year.

[1967TheBoy]

did you know that Paul Watson is at the pier this weekend 20th nov 2011 ( Cameron Lings restaurant )Long sail the sea shepherds

[karmudgeon]

Great video! Where did you find all the period photos of Dundee docks and the whalers?

Nostalgic for me too - the song "Balaena" was very popular on the Scottish folk scene back in the 'sixties when I first got interested and this is one of the better versions.

[jbite1]

im proud 2 b a dundonian and a hilltown boy

[uviclad]

msbrown...........say hi to your folks from me...hope mum has mastered that recorder..and the auld man still has enough wind to blaw the pipes....

God bless......GD

[ccdg1066]

Super! Also check out the version done by The Irish Rovers (5*) if you can find it :)

[msbrown3333]

Thought you would like to know that my parents (Lowland Folk) stumbled across their song and it brought back some good memories for them.

[TravisTricky]

Right on! Thanks for sharing this version with me, I've never heard a version like this before.