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A Nautical Yarn

from Crossing the Line by Forty Degrees South

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Songs of the southern oceans - 22 tracks

    Comes in cardboard sleeve with printed 8 page booklet

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about

From Who Are You, a volume of poems by Keighley Goodchild, an editor at the Echuca Advertiser. Ian Mudie in his book, Riverboats, suggests “it is so different from the rest of Goodchild’s work that it seems quite likely that he heard it on the riverboats or in the pubs of Echuca – and wrote it down as his own”. Well-known Murray River Captain, Gus Pierce may have been the inspiration.

lyrics

I sing of a captain not unknown to fame;
A naval commander, Bill Jinks was his name,
Who sailed where the Murray’s clear waters do flow,
Did this freshwater shellback, with his Yeo heave a ho.

Chorus:
With his Yeo ho, yeo heave a ho
With his Yeo ho, yeo heave a ho

To the Port of Wahgunyah his vessel was bound
When night came upon him and darkness around;
Not a star on the waters its clear light did throw;
But the vessel sped onward with a Yeo heave a ho.

“Oh! Captain, oh! Captain, let’s make for the shore,
For the seas they do rage and the winds they do roar!”
“Nay, nay,” said the captain, “though the fierce winds may blow
I’ll stick to me vessel with a Yeo heave a ho.”

“Oh! Captain, oh! Captain, the waves sweep the deck,
Oh Captain, oh! Captain, we’ll soon be a wreck
To the river’s deep bosom each seaman will go!”
But the Captain laughed lightly, with his Yeo heave a ho.

“Farewell to the maiden, the girl I adore;
Farewell to my friends, I shall see them no more!”
The crew shrieked in terror, the Captain he swore.
We had stuck on a sandbank, so the men walked ashore.

With a Yeo, ho, Yeo heave a ho
With a Yeo, ho, Yeo heave a ho
With a Yeo, ho, Yeo heave a ho

credits

from Crossing the Line, released July 9, 2021
Keighley Goodchild 1883
Tune trad. ‘The Dreadnought’

license

all rights reserved

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about

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Forty Degrees South Sydney, Australia

A Sydney folk group known from 1988 for their powerful impact when singing unaccompanied traditional songs.

Strong individual singers, the interplay of their combined voices makes for a distinctive sound.

Sea shanties and other songs of maritime and industrial history and union songs feature large in their repertoire, songs with a robust quality that tell of real people, their lives and work. ... more

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