Sea Shanties

Sea Shanties

2021 will go down on record as the year of the sea shanty. The 19th-century musical form, designed to synchronize and entertain sailors at sea, became a runaway hit on the social media platform TikTok, where videos with the hashtag #seashanty were viewed over 7 billion times. 

Sea shanties first went viral in the early 1800s, as they were passed from ship to ship and sailor to sailor. Shanties helped coordinate the timing of the work needed on the ship, such as furling or unfurling the sails, which often took 12 men. The word Shanty comes from the French word chanter, meaning “to sing.” A typical vessel would have sailors from various countries, such as France, Spain, England, and Holland, and enslaved Africans from the Caribbean and the American South. Shanties helped explain the work that needed to be done on the ship through their lyrics and taught everyone the common words and phrases they needed to function as a unit.

Using rhythmic music to synchronize work dates back to Ancient Greece, who used it on their giant warships known as triremes. Early naval traditions in the US, Great Britain, and other countries involved using drum cadences, often accompanied by a fife or fiddle, to establish the pace for work aboard ships. These practices were also employed on some pirate ships, as many pirates were former navy sailors. 

Sea shanties also evolved from Southern black work songs, which rely on call and response, or Antiphony, to coordinate massive amounts of labor. Some historians find it hard to tell if certain shanties are European tunes that have been Africanized, or African tunes with a European influence. 

Sea shanties also have common elements with the songs of the enslaved people of the Caribbean. The tradition of singing them can probably be traced back to the interactions between sailors and black dock workers. Early shanties were written to be sung by those loading cargo using new inventions, like the cotton screw and pump break windlass. The rhythms were designed to help the crew operate these novel machines.

Shanties were led by shantymen, who would call out phrases that would instruct the crew to respond in kind. Instead of extra pay, Shantymen were paid in grog for their efforts. Shanties were generally sung acapella, using the melodies, scales, and rhythms of English, Scottish, and Irish folk songs, including reels and jigs. 

There were different shanties for different jobs. Long-haul shanties (or halyard shanties) were used for hoisting sails. The shantyman would call for two bars, and the crew would respond for two bars, with two strong musical accents per chorus. 

Hand-over-hand shanties were for less strenuous jobs, like hauling rope. These were faster, with an accent on each beat, giving them a lilting quality. 

Short drag chanties were for tasks that called for a quick burst of energy, such as shortening or unfurling sails. The crew needed to work in cooperation to achieve these tasks. 

Shanties weren’t just for labor. They were also used for entertainment. Bored sailors placed a lot of stock in music while stuck at sea for weeks on end. Pirates were known to kidnap musicians and steal instruments at every opportunity.

Sea shanties served their purpose for hundreds of years. By the turn of the century, they were adapted by Hollywood and became synonymous with the Pirate lifestyle. But in 2021, during the height of a global pandemic in which the average citizen was landlocked in their home, sea shanties became relevant again. 

Users of the social media app TikTok began seeing different versions of the sea shanty “The Wellerman” popping up in their feeds. In 2020, the maritime-themed band The Long Johns used the song to virtually serenade unwitting players of the online pirate game Sea of Thieves. Players began posting memes of the Long Johns’ performances in the game online. Then, a 26-year-old Scottish TikTok user Nathan Evans posted a video of himself on the nascent platform singing the ancient whaling ballad, with harmonies he’d added using the app’s unique Duet function. Using the Duet feature, TikTok users can modify and remix each other’s videos. Countless users recorded their own duets using Smith’s version, adding additional voices, instruments, and stylistic twists. Although “The Wellerman” lacks the call-and-response of a true sea shanty, it has now reached every shore imaginable and revived a genre that had been once reduced to parody. 

The Antiphony found in sea shanties still echoes throughout popular music; in gospel, rock (The Who’s “My Generation”), hip-hop (“say hey,” “hey” “say ho,” “ho”), and jazz (for example, the horn responding to the bass in Miles Davis’ “So What.”)