Spanish Ladies
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Spanish Ladies is a traditional English sea shanty, describing a voyage from Spain to the Downs.
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[edit] Origins
It is featured in The Oxford Book of Sea Songs, edited by Roy Palmer in 1986, which states that the earliest known reference to it is in the logbook of the Nellie of 1796 (though a ballad by the same name, registered in England December 14, 1624 with the Stationers' Company, may also be related to it).
The song's namesake, "Spanish Ladies," can most likely be traced to the period between 1793 and 1796 in which British ships would often dock in Spanish harbors while Spain and Britain were still allies in First Coalition against Revolutionary France. — While this may help to contextualize the song's mention of Spain, no truly definitive age has surfaced as of yet.
It is held by most to be a capstan shanty (I.e. a shanty sung to keep time in turning the capstan to raise the anchor and leave port), and as can be inferred from the lyrics, was most likely sung as ships were homeward bound.
To go along with the original there are least two known versions that, while utilizing the same melody, substitute different lyrics. The first of these is known as "Brisbane Ladies" while the second has no distinct title but was written especially for the Bluenose, a famed Canadian ship based in Nova Scotia.
[edit] Lyrics
- Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies,
- Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain;
- For we've received orders for to sail for ole England,
- But we hope in a short time to see you again.
- We hove our ship to with the wind from sou'west, boys
- We hove our ship to, deep soundings to take;
- 'Twas forty-five fathoms[2] , with a white sandy bottom,
- So we squared our main yard and up channel did make.
- chorus
- The first land we sighted was called the Dodman,
- Next Rame Head off Plymouth, off Portsmouth the Wight;
- We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dover,
- And then we bore up for the South Foreland light.
- chorus
- Then the signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor,
- And all in the Downs that night for to lie;
- Let go your shank painter, let go your cat stopper![3]
- Haul up your clewgarnets, let tacks and sheets fly![4]
- chorus
- Now let ev'ry man drink off his full bumper,
- And let ev'ry man drink off his full glass;
- We'll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy,
- And here's to the health of each true-hearted lass.
- chorus
[edit] In literature and film
The song is briefly sung in Chapter 40 of Moby-Dick and also appears in the 1975 film Jaws (an Americanized version using 'Boston' instead of 'England'), the 1993 episode "A Ghost of a Chance" of the television series Homicide: Life on the Street and the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It is sung in the 2003 television series Horatio Hornblower in the episode "Retribution." The song also appears in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons. The song is also regularly sung by the character Daniel Hagman in the television series of Sharpe. An instrumental version of the song is performed by Keith Richards in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
[edit] In print and recordings
The song forms part of Sir Henry Wood's composition Fantasia on British Sea Songs. It has been recorded numerous times, including the 2006 album Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys.
