We hope that everyone is having a most merry Christmas. Here is a repost from 2014 of a poem by C. Fox Smith adapted for song by Charlie Ipcar. Cecily Fox Smith was a Victorian poet best remembered for her poems about … Continue reading
Category Archives: Songs
In honor of the windjammer Peking, on her way home to Hamburg to be restored and refurbished — here is a fine old sea shanty — “Rolling Home to Dear Old Hamborg.” We can only hope that the 106 year … Continue reading
If you are near New York harbor tomorrow and have the chance, head on over to the The Noble Maritime Collection at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center between 2 PM and 5 PM tomorrow, April 22, for a free concert celebrating the … Continue reading
We have learned that Joe Stead has passed away. He was a folk singer who sang with everyone from Paul Robeson to Pete Seeger. Around the turn of the 21st century, his focus shifted more toward the sea with his … Continue reading
Next Saturday, January 14th, the Mystic Seaport Museum, in Mystic, CT, is hosting its annual Chantey Blast and Pub Sing from 1-5 PM at Frohsinn Hall, 54 Greenmanville Ave., directly across the street from the museum. Everyone is invited to join in … Continue reading
Not many lead singers from an 80’s rock and roll band could write a compelling song about ship scrapping, but then Mark Knopfler is not just any singer/songwriter. Knopfler was born in Glasgow, Scotland on the River Clyde, which was … Continue reading
Singer/songwriter Tom Munch plays his original song about the last great historic wooden schooners of Maine in the early 20th century. The photos are historic shots of the Wyoming and other ships built at Percy and Small shipyard in Bath, Maine … Continue reading
We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. Here is a slightly different take on Jingle Bells by members of the US Navy band. Dueling Jingle BellsHere’s one of our favorites from this year’s holiday concerts, with a bit … Continue reading
In the summer of 1995, a group of lovers of the music of the sea got together on the deck of the windjammer Peking at the South Street Seaport Museum on the East River in New York to sing sea shanties. … Continue reading
One hundred and fifteen years ago today, on September 8, 1900, the city of Galveston Texas was struck by what today would be classified as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 145 mph and a storm surge of 14 feet. Somewhere … Continue reading
My novel, The Shantyman, begins with a fictionalized Bill Doerflinger recording the tale told by a retired ship’s captain of a shantyman who saved his ship and its crew. The old captain lives close to the sailor’s retirement home, Sailor’s Snug … Continue reading
A new musical is coming to Broadway this summer, which features a ship’s captain and stage sets with lots of ship’s rigging. It is based on the story of Captain John Newton and the song Amazing Grace. The musical is described: … Continue reading
Not quite two years so, we posted about the death of the British folk and shanty singer who as born as Louis Killen. The post title was “Lou Killen, British Folk Song and Shanty Singer, Dies at 79.” Now after the … Continue reading
The Hardtackers Shanty Crew put out a fine new promotional video just a week or two before the publication of my new novel, The Shantyman. The events are unrelated but feel fortuitous. See our review of the Hardtacker’s CD, Don’t … Continue reading
We hope that everyone is having a most merry Christmas. Here is a poem by C. Fox Smith adapted for song by Charlie Ipcar. As we posted last June, Cecily Fox Smith was a Victorian poet best remembered for her poems about … Continue reading