"A-rovin'" from Moby Dick (1956)

From a scene in the Spouter Inn in New Bedford. This song was, of course, not in the novel. It's the capstan chantey, " A-rovin' ", performed as an entertainment/dance song!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sea
• shanties
• chantey
• rovin
• maid
• of
• amsterdam
• moby
• dick

[McGrenzer]

19th Century slam-dancing.

[hultonclint]

@McGrenzer Ha! yeah, though not so much slam dancing as that "new" run around in a circle thing they do at hardcore shows in recent years :) (from an old punk!)

[Purplishous555]

were singing this in my choir!



[hultonclint]

@Purplishous555 Greasy Luck to ye!

[Ubermann88HH]

OMG, Moby Dick is the firs movie I ever saw. And this was my favorite scene. I used to dance like the sailors in my bedroom while watching this

[19smokey19]

if they sang in pubs like that i would be there evryday lol the olde days wish i was there..

[Fitheach1]

@19smokey19 it's my langest dream tae build up a tavern like that ... still hae the stable fur that beneath my house ... when I hae finished it someday, I'll invite ye tae hae a guid pint 'n' dram an' sing an' dance along wi' us clarty baggars ;o)

[Anekantavad]

In the days of the mast, the harsh monotony of the sailor's life would often cause an outbreak of melancholy and a sense that sailors were "all at sea" in more than a nautical sense. Drink wasn't a useful respite, but music and dance were very effective at banishing the blues.

Hence the exuberant dancing and singing shown here. It wasn't "artistic" or "romantic" like a lot of dance: it was aggressively all-male, and an essential part of keeping spirits healthy on board the ship.

Love this clip!

[MrArmyguyDave]

Rovin's been my RU-I-N

[shellback1978]

Originally any woman referred to as being "in trade" was a euphamism for being a hooker. To "rove" with a woman was to hit the sack with herl In the days this song was new it was considered dirty. me, always enjoyed it.

[hultonclint]

@thewhohendrix Yes, that's what he's referring to. It was just an idea floated by the poet Masefield in 1906. He liked to try to connect as many chanties as possible with "old" English stuff; that was his bias. Subsequent authors around that time repeated the idea as filler when introducing the song in their own anthologies, and it became an urban legend. For some reason, people feel the need to mention that evry time they introduce the song. Google indeed.

[thewhohendrix]

@mrgabest Are you referring to the The Rape of Lucrece? I was under the impression that the play debuted in 1640, and although the song mentioned there bears some similarity to A-Rovin, it is certainly not the shanty itself. The song in the play was a "catch", which is essentially a round, and not a shanty.