Round the Bay of Mexico [87] (80)

This capstan chantey belongs to the same family of songs as "Santiana" and "The Plains of Mexico"; Hugill seems to imply a belief that it was the original (?) progenitor of those, having been used by hoosiers in ports of the Gulf of Mexico. There is no mention of "Santiana," though some versions mark a similar place in the chorus with the girl's name "Susianna." And instead of praising the Spanish ladies of the actual ~land~ of Mexico, this gets away with just mentioning the "Bay" of Mexico, giving it possible relevance to any number of places.

An interesting trajectory related to this chantey begins, I think, with the 1935 field-recording by Alan Lomax of singers in the Bahamas. It seems that this set of recordings, which includes "Round the Bay of Mexico" as well as a version of the soon to be well-known "Sloop John B.", was a significant source for performers like the Kingston Trio and the Weavers in the budding "Folk" genre. (Incidentally, these performers often performed these songs in a quasi "Calypso" paradigm, though from the field recordings I do not get a sense of calypso or similar dance rhythm. ) From there, "Bay of Mexico" (as they called it) has had a bit of a new life, as in the hands of Harry Belafonte for example. These versions have similar verses (reflecting a more or less common source, the Lomax recording) of a general chantey type and similar to those oft used for "Santiana." (Mention of "Nassau" is a pretty dead giveaway of the Bahamian source.) Now, Hugill's version, for which he gives only four verses (here), is different, reflecting the hoosier context more. As with most chanteys, more verses can be added at will, but this is enough to give a flavor.

Note that I suspect Hugill's memory or notation of the beginning of the melody may have been a bit off (for reasons too long to explain here), so my rendition, for the first phrase, reflects a bit of that 1935 Bahamian recording, with its scooping blue notes.

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

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bahamas
• sea
• chantey
• shanty
• work
• song
• sailor
• capstan
• Gulf
• Mexico

[joelwhitson]

Nice job.

[just2w4tch]

A good song. So much is out there.