Doom ship

Whats a good shanty for the crew of a damned ship to sing?

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youtube.com/watch?v=UqU7W8LdRd4
youtube.com/watch?v=FgvfRSzmMoU
youtube.com/watch?v=htF1kxwdez4
youtube.com/watch?v=60BjkUtqxPE
youtube.com/watch?v=x8FZMS7brxE
youtube.com/watch?v=05rR7nozsYg
youtube.com/watch?v=t0CR1IJKMPo
youtu.be/LX9VxBwvFFo?t=65
youtube.com/watch?v=3iRgiBakJhw
youtube.com/watch?v=e6HVf70E4j8
youtube.com/watch?v=3lABZR3sAbo
youtube.com/watch?v=7YUiBBltOg4
youtube.com/watch?v=1HiReDV9FAA
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I dunno, shanties have a cheerful tune. You probably want something more somber, like Lament for the Makers.

Yohohoho yohohoho
Yohohoho yohohoho
Gather up all of the crew
It’s time to ship out Bink’s brew...

Oh, it depends on the ship. Something happened and it never returned? "Hurrah, me boys, we're homeward bound!"
Boarded, looted, slaughtered to a man? Dead Man's Chest
Some sort of sea/space abomination? Blow the man down.
Cheerfulness and horror go very well together.

"Fifteen Orks on a dead man’s hulk,
Lookin’ down the barrel of a gun,
Gruntin’ to each other
through big, sharp teeth,
Sayin’ “This one’ll give us some fun”

Fourteen Orks on a humie’s ship,
Killin’ anything that isn’t green,
Gruntin’ to each other
through big, sharp teeth,
Sayin’ “Times be getting’ lean”

Thirteen Orks with the Captain’s chest,
Hopin’ to quench their greedy thirst,
Gruntin’ to each other
through big, sharp teeth
Sayin’ “I was da wun dat saw it first”

One lone Ork left to steal the loot,
Wishin’ it hadn’t turned out so,
Gruntin’ to itself
through big, sharp teeth
Sayin’ “I shoulda let the pilot goooo”

Shanties were divided into categories named after the work they were used for. There were long haul shanties and short haul shanties for long and short rope pulling. There were windlass shanties for pumping out water, and capstan shanties for raising and lowering the anchor.

There was also a fifth kind of sailor song, which wasn’t really considered a true shanty because it was not used for work. Forecastle shanties were songs sung after the work was over when they would gather around in the forecastle to drink and sing wild ballads.

"spanish ladies" was a forecastle song sung on the homeward leg of a voyage so might be approrpriate:
Farewell an’ adieu to you fair Spanish ladies,
Farewell an’ adieu to you ladies of Spain,
For we’ve received orders for to sail for old England,
An’ hope very shortly to see you again.

We’ll rant an’ we’ll roar, like true British sailors,
We’ll rant an’ we’ll rave across the salt seas,
‘Till we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England,
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-four leagues.

We hove our ship to, with the wind at sou’west, boys,
We hove our ship to for to take soundings clear.
In fifty-five fathoms with a fine sandy bottom,
We filled our maintops’l, up Channel did steer.

The first land we made was a point called the Deadman,
Next Ramshead off Plymouth, Start, Portland, and Wight.
We sailed then by Beachie, by Fairlee and Dungeyness,
Then bore straight away for the South Foreland Light.

Now the signal was made for the Grand Fleet to anchor,
We clewed up our tops’ls, stuck out tacks and sheets.
We stood by our stoppers, we brailed in our spankers,
And anchored ahead of the noblest of fleets.

Let every man here drink up his full bumper,
Let every man here drink up his full bowl,
And let us be jolly and drown melancholy,
Drink a health to each jovial an’ true-hearted soul.

Another good one though is an african-american Capstan shanty called "Roll the Ol' Chariot":

Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm,
Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm,
Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm,
An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

So we’ll ro-o-oll the old chariot along!
An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along!
So we’ll ro-o-oll the old chariot along!
An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm,
Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm,
Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm,
An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

So we’ll ro-o-oll the old chariot along!
An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along!
So we’ll ro-o-oll the old chariot along!
An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Oh, a nice fat cook wouldn’t do us any harm.
Oh, a roll in the clover wouldn’t do us any harm.
Oh, a long spell in gaol wouldn’t do us any harm.
Oh, a nice watch below wouldn’t do us any harm.
Oh, a night with the gals wouldn’t do us any harm.

What makes it particularly good for this instance is that the various things that "wouldn't do us any harm" are supposed to improvised and changed, as hoisting anchor could often take a while, but it also means you can fairly easily modify it to fit your setting too.

Then there's Fiddler's Green, which is a forecastle song explicitly about the "Sailor's heaven", Fiddler's Green:

As I walked by the dockside one evening so fair
To view the salt water and take the sea air
I heard an old fisherman singing a song
Won’t you take ma away boys me time is not long

Wrap me up in me oil-skin and jumper
No more on the docks I’ll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I’m taking a trip mates
And I’ll see you some day in Fiddler’s Green

Now Fiddler’s Green is a place I heard tell
Where the fishermen go if they don’t go to hell
Where skies are all clear and the dolphins do play
And the cold coast of Greenland is far, far away

Wrap me up in me oil-skin and jumper
No more on the docks I’ll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I’m taking a trip mates
And I’ll see you some day in Fiddler’s Green

When you get on the docks and the long trip is through
Ther’s pubs and ther’s clubs and ther’s lassies there too
When the girls are all pretty and the beer it is free
And ther’s bottles of rum growing from every tree

Wrap me up in me oil-skin and jumper
No more on the docks I’ll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I’m taking a trip mates
And I’ll see you some day in Fiddler’s Green

Now, I don’t want a harp nor a halo, not me
Just give me a breeze and a good rolling sea
I’ll play me old squeeze-box as we sail along
With the wind in the rigging to sing me a song

Wrap me up in me oil-skin and jumper
No more on the docks I’ll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I’m taking a trip mates
And I’ll see you some day in Fiddler’s Green

Of course should probably mentions shorthaul shanty, like Haul Away Joe, which is an important shanty emphasising that sailors kiss girls, because sometimes they forget while pulling on each others' rope:

Naow whin Oi wuz a little boy an’ so me mother told me,
‘Way haul away, we’ll haul away Joe!
That if Oi didn’t kiss the gals me lips would all grow mouldy.
‘Way haul away, we’ll haul away Joe!

An’ Oi sailed the seas for many a year not knowin’ what Oi wuz missin’,
Then Oi sets me sails afore the gales an’ started in a-kissin’.

Oi got meself an Oirish gal an’ her name wuz Flannigan,
She stole me boots, she stole me clothes, she pinched me plate an’ pannikin.

Oi courted then a Frenchie gal, she took things free an’ aisy,
But naow Oi’ve got an English gal an’ sure she is a daisy.

Oh, King Louis wuz the King o’ France, afore the revolution,
But the people cut his big head orf an’ spoiled his constitution.

Oh, once Oi wuz in Oireland a-diggin’ turf an’ taties,
But naow Oi’m on a Limejuice ship an’ a-haulin’ on the braces.

Saint Patrick wuz a gintleman, an’ he come of daycent paypul,
He built a church in Dublin town an’ on it set a staypul.

From Oireland thin he druv the snakes, then drank up all the whisky,
This made him dance an’ sing an’ jig, he felt so fine an’ frisky.

Yiz call yerself a second mate an’ cannot tie a bowline,
Ye cannot even stand up straight when the packet she’s a-rollin’.

I think I shall end this dump of shanties with the saddest Capstan shanty, Lowlands Lands, which is about either a sailor's gal having a terrible premonition of her sailor's death, or a sailor about his gal dying (this one is the former not the latter):

I dreamed a dream the other night,
Lowlands, Lowlands, away, my John,
I dreamed a dream the other night,
My Lowlands, away!

I dreamed I saw my own true love,
Lowlands, Lowlands, away, my John,
I dreamed I saw my own true love,
My Lowlands, away!

She came to me all in my sleep,
Lowlands, Lowlands, away, my John,
I dreamed I saw my own true love,
My Lowlands, away!

And then I knew my love was dead.
Lowlands, Lowlands, away, my John,
I dreamed I saw my own true love,
My Lowlands, away!

Good thread.

Sea-ship or space-ship?
This is important.
youtube.com/watch?v=UqU7W8LdRd4

Technically its an Roc golem, made out of pieces of wrecked ships, that flies in search of men who rob the offerings from the Fiddler's Green monument to lost seamen. Crewed by men made of ivory.

>An Roc
Fuck. A Roc.

Too soon dude...it's always too soon

You make me miss the BFG general.

Also wasn't there a big "What do you do with a drunken X" thread ages ago?

Bump

Damned you say?
youtube.com/watch?v=FgvfRSzmMoU
Why not mock thier captors?

youtube.com/watch?v=htF1kxwdez4

It's weird, because the english version is objectively better, and it's actually a pretty good classical sounding shanty.

youtube.com/watch?v=60BjkUtqxPE

youtube.com/watch?v=x8FZMS7brxE

youtube.com/watch?v=05rR7nozsYg

cant go wrong with a song about a little revenge.

youtube.com/watch?v=t0CR1IJKMPo

The Courts of High Barbary may work, and you can always reword it slightly to be from the pirate perspective if that fits better

There were two lofty ships from old England came,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
One was the Prince of Luther, and the other Prince of Wales,
Cruising down along the coast of the High Barbaree.

“Aloft there, aloft!” our jolly boatswain cries,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
“Look ahead, look astern, look aweather and alee,
Look along down the coast of the High Barbaree.”

There’s nought upon the stern, there’s nought upon the lee,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
But there’s a lofty ship to windward, and she’s sailing fast and free,
Sailing down along the coast of the High Barbaree.

“Oh, hail her, Oh, hail her,” our gallant captain cried,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
“Are you a man-o’-war or a privateer,” said he,
“Cruising down along the coast of the High Barbaree.”

“Oh, I am not a man-o’-war nor privateer,” said he,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
“But I’m a salt-sea pirate a-looking for my fee,
“Cruising down the coast of the High Barbaree.”

Oh, ’twas broadside to broadside a long time we lay,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
Until the Prince of Luther shot the pirate’s masts away,
Cruising down along the coast of the High Barbaree.

“Oh, quarter, Oh, quarter,” those pirates then did cry,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
But the quarter that we gave them – we sunk them in the sea,
Coming down along the coast of the High Barbaree

Oh come on, nobody mentioned the classics?

youtu.be/LX9VxBwvFFo?t=65

(actual song starts at 1:05)

youtube.com/watch?v=3iRgiBakJhw this should be perfect for what you're looking for.

youtube.com/watch?v=e6HVf70E4j8

youtube.com/watch?v=3lABZR3sAbo

My neck
My back
Lick my pussy
And my crack

If we're dropping classics, then what about the accountacy shanty as sung by the Crimson Permenant Assurances crew:
youtube.com/watch?v=7YUiBBltOg4

The mermaid song is a pretty good shanty.

youtube.com/watch?v=1HiReDV9FAA

We need ork shanties.

Naow wen oi wuz a little grotling an t' Big Nobz told me
Dakka up! Choppas down! We'll punch all dah 'umies!
dat wen crumping for teef Oi'd nevah get lonely!
Choppahs up! Dakka down! Dese beakies are softies!

An' Oi slept in a hulk not knowing wot Oi wuz missin'
Then Oi sets foot on amageddon an the Waagh! Overcame me!

Oi crumped me some 'umies wot never knew wot 'ad 'it dem!
An' Oi loot'd their big nobz an'd iz 'hole golden trone!