“Stormalong”
Description
Shanty. Characteristic lines: "To me way, old Stormalong!... Aye, aye, aye, Captain Stormalong." About the death of Stormalong, who was elaborately buried off Cape Horn. The singer wishes he were Stormy's son so he could treat the sailors better
Notes
Shay reports, "Old Stormalong is the only heroic chracter in the folklor of the sea: he was born, like the great clipper ships, in the imaginations of men."
Shay adds a tall tale of Stormy aboard the clipper _Courser_, so large that it just barely fit through the English Channel. Stormalong had the ship greased with soap so it could slide through more easily. This is why the sea near Dover is foamy: The cliffs scraped off all the soap. - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "The 'Cholly' Blues" (floating verses)
- cf. "Deep Blue Sea (II)" (floating verses)
- cf. "Carry Him To the Burying Ground (General Taylor, Walk Him Along Johnny)" (lyrics)
Recordings
- Bob Roberts, "Mister Stormalong" (on LastDays)
References
- Doerflinger, pp. 82-83, "Stormalong" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Bone, pp. 126-127, "Stormalong" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Colcord, pp. 88-89, "Stormalong" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Harlow, pp. 78-84, "Storm Along John," "Stormy," "Old Stormy" (6 texts, 6 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 66-69]
- Hugill, pp. 71-77, "Mister Stormalong," "Stormy Along, John," "Way Stormalong John," Stormalong, Lads, Stormy," Way Stormalong John" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
- Sharp-EFC, XX, XXXIV, & LVII, p. 23, 39 & 62, "Stormalong John," "Old Stormey," "Wo, Stormalong" (5 texts, 4 tunes)
- Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 63-65, "Stormalong" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 834, "Stormalong" (1 text, 1 tune)
- DT, STRMALNG*
- ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Old Stormy!" is in Part 4, 8/4/1917.
- ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; notes to #398, ("Stormey's dead, that good old man") (1 text)
- Roud #216
- BI, Doe082