Lyrics to the song, The Wellerman
Introduction
Hello, and welcome to the Mother of Gooses blog, where I ramble about hymns, instruments and things.
No niche, just things.
Rather random.
Today, our random subject is the lyrics to the sea shanty, The Wellerman.
I'm not sure who wrote it; probably the men who worked for the Weller family.
Go to Folksandhymns to hear the tune, or Nathan Evans. Both do a good job.
Now, on with the show!
The Lyrics
Verse 1
There once was a ship that put to sea,
The name of the shop was the Billy O' Tea;
The winds blew up, her bow dipped down,
Oh blow, my bully boys, blow.
Chorus
Soon may the Wellerman come,
To bring us sugar and tea and rum;
One day, when the tonguing is done,
We'll take our leave and go.
Verse 2
She'd been not two weeks from shore
When down on her a Right whale bore;
The captain called all hands and swore
He'd take that whale in tow.
Chorus
Soon may the Wellerman come,
To bring us sugar and tea and rum;
One day, when the tonguing is done,
We'll take our leave and go.
Verse 3
Before the boat had hit the water,
The whale's tail came up and caught her;
All hands to the side, harpooned and fought her,
When she dived down low.
Chorus
Soon may the Wellerman come,
To bring us sugar and tea and rum;
One day, when the tonguing is done,
We'll take our leave and go.
Verse 4
No line was cut, no whale was freed,
The captain's mind was not of greed;
But he belonged to the whale man's creed,
She took that ship in tow.
Chorus
Soon may the Wellerman come,
To bring us sugar and tea and rum;
One day, when the tonguing is done,
We'll take our leave and go.
Verse 5
For forty days, or even more,
The line went slack, then tight once more;
All boats were lost, there were only four,
But still that whale did go.
Chorus
Soon may the Wellerman come,
To bring us sugar and tea and rum;
One day, when the tonguing is done,
We'll take our leave and go.
Verse 6
As far I've heard the fights still on,
The line's not cut, and the whale's not gone;
The Wellerman makes his regular call
To encourage the captain, crew and all.
Chorus
Soon may the Wellerman come,
To bring us sugar and tea and rum;
One day, when the tonguing is done,
We'll take our leave and go.
It is a catchy song, but it tells a terrible story; tonguing is stripping blubber from the whale's decomposing carcass, the sugar, tea and rum bit is because the whalers weren't paid real money, they were paid in goods, and then lastly, the whale had harpoons stuck in her and she was towing a ship by those means.
Terrible.
Thankfully, whaling isn't popular anymore, and is illegal in the upper class countries. I'm not sure about the countries with less means of income.
You see, whale oil and bone is very valuable, and you can make a pretty penny selling these things to the right person.
I don't have anything else to say, except that if I left something out, let me know in the comments.
I send out new content on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Random Chatty Days; go to past posts to read more.
Goodbye, and God bless.
-Mother of Gooses
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