Recently popularized by social media platforms like TikTok and even featured on some late-night shows, sea shanties have become a center of everyone’s attention; some are even posting their version of the songs like “Soon may the Wellerman Come”. Sea Shanties are not only filled with intricate harmonies, but they also have interesting histories.
Even if you aren’t familiar with the term sea shanty, you have most definitely heard some. These songs are known as typical ‘pirate songs’ and have been featured in famous movies like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean” and even on the tv show “Vikings”. Originally a sea shanty was a type of folk song that sailors would sing when navigating a large ship. The structure of the shanties also reflects that. A shanty usually starts with a single person singing the first verse; it is followed by all the other sailors that are on the ship with three to four different harmonies. These shanties were an important piece of technology because they made group work easier to manage and were good at uplifting the morale of the sailors. Even the lyrics of the songs were integrated into the function of the song on the ship, as we can see words like ‘haul in’ and ‘anchor’ repeated to signal those actions. Sea shanties emerged approximately in the second half of the eighteenth century as there is almost no mention of them before this time, although there are still some songs that date to the 1500s.
The shanties were easy to learn and the melodies were simple for all people to replicate, which is why the shanties didn’t remain only on the decks of the ships but soon were sung in bars and taverns. One of the recently popularized sea shanties is “Soon May the Wellerman Come”, which is also known as “Wellerman”. This song is about a whaling shanty, which was invented in New Zealand in the mid-1800s. The song is named after the Weller Brothers, who were the owners of the supply ships for the whaling industry and their employees became known as ‘the Wellermen’. The lyrics of the song talk about the sailors of a ship called “Billy o’ Tea”, who are waiting to catch a right whale; they are also waiting for the Wellerman, who will bring them sugar, tea, and rum, which was their wage while working as whalers. Another very famous sea shanty is “Drunken Sailor”. This shanty was sung after a long day of hauling and was claimed to be sung on the British Royal navy in the 1860-70s. More recently this shanty has been featured as a soundtrack of “Spongebob Squarepants” and in Assassin’s Creed IV in 2013.
But what do the students of AAT think about the recent popularization of the sea shanties? One of the junior students said this on the topic: “I feel as though sea shanties are a very unique and niche sub-genre of music that hasn't been explored before as an actual genre of music but rather has always been portrayed in popular media as just songs that pirates used to sing back in the day whereas, in actuality, it is just as valid a music genre. TikTok has given this art form a place to display itself and allow others to perceive it with much more seriousness and for people to share their cultural heritage with the rest of the world.” Another one of our students said: “A couple of days ago someone sent me a TikTok video of this so-called sea shanty trend. I immediately found it pretty memorable and catchy. Don’t know much about it but seems like it quickly blew up. A lot of people are duetting a video and adding their individual performances to synchronize with it which I found very interesting.
In conclusion, the sea shanties have been around for a very long time and will be here for much longer thanks to the internet. All the while we can enjoy the simple tunes of the shanties in the comfort of our homes and maybe pay more attention to the soundtracks of some pirate movies, just in case it includes some of the familiar shanties.
Edited by Mariam Khaduri
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