This is an outward bound chantey sung at the windlass, especially in the packet ships. Hugill deems it "...Irish to its very bones and the tune is reminiscent of a jig." He identifies a cluster of songs with a similar theme, about an Irish emigrant getting passage to the New World. Tapscott is an infamous shipping agent who ran a line of "hell ships," packets with an emphasis on speed at all costs. Doerflinger explains that the content of the solo verses is largely derivative of a comic music-hall type song, sung in Irish dialect/accent, called "Yellow Meal." This low-cost "meal" was the promised mass ration to emigrant steerage passengers; the dialect pronunciation of the word as "mail" was used to comedic effect in that it made the packet ship sound like an important one carrying official postage. The voice is erratic, in that sometimes it is the emigrant lass talking, sometimes the sailors. Scenes are from the port of Savannah, Georgia. See the whole "Shanties from the Seven Seas" project, here: www.youtube.comCategory:Music Tags:hannah, Montana, Savannah, shanty, chantey, Irish Channel: YouTube Runtime: 230 Rating: 5.00
