A-rollin' Down the River [178-179] (144-145)

A.K.A "The Arabella"

A sort of crappy chantey! Even Hugill didnt seem very thrilled with it -- very monotonous, like a "99 bottles of beer" sort of thing, it ends up going through all the sails set on a ship.

Often the musical transcriptions in Hugill's have significant errors, or otherwise deviate from how the tune is meant to be sung. These are genuine errors in transcription, not just the usual variations in singing folk songs. Well, this tune is the worst so far. The transcription goes through 3 different keys for some reason (!) and also changes meter!! All for a simple, monotonous tune. I'm sorry to say that when Hugill sang the tune it was also quite messed up! Oh well, one flaw in an awesome book.

When he performed the songat Mystic Seaport in 1988 (recorded) he mentioned that it had not yet been learned over there. The attempt to ad lib sing-along (in harmony) by the audience as he shifted keys is kinda funny.

Please check out the whole chanteys project playlist, at
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=58B55DD66F22060C

Category:

Music

Tags:

• shanty
• chantey
• sea
• song
• capstan
• arabella
• stan
• hugill