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One More Day

[ Roud 704 ; Ballad Index FSWB086B ; VWML CJS2/10/2883 ; trad.]

Tony Hall recorded the shanty One More Day in 1977. This track wasn’t included on his Free Reed album Fieldvole Music at that time, but it appeared in 2007 as a bonus track on the album’s CD reissue.

John Tams sang One More Day in 1984 on The Home Service’s eponymous album The Home Service, which was reissued in 1996 as the CD Early Transmissions. He also sang it as part of a medley The Sea in 2005 on his Topic CD The Reckoning.

A live performance of the Albion Band performing A Sailor’s Life and One More Day from 1979 was included in 1994 on the Ashley Hutchings anthology The Guv’nor Vol 1, in 2006 on the compilation The Fairport Companion, and in 2010 on the Albion Band anthology Vintage II: On the Road 1972-1980. A much later incarnation of the Albion Band sang One More Day in 2012 on their CD The Vice of the People. This video shows them at Hampton Lido on 13 July 2013:

Martin Simpson sang One More Day together with Boots of Spanish Leather at Stone Soup, Providence, RI, on 5 June 1999. This recording was included in 1999 on his CD Bootleg USA and in 2004 on his anthology The Definitive Collection. He also played a medley of these two songs and The Air for Maurice Ogg in 2006 on his DVD Guitar Maestros.

Bob Webb sang One More Day in 2004 at the 25^th Annual Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport.

The Shellback Chorus sang Only One More Day on the 2004 Lancaster Maritime Festival anthology Beware of the Pressgang.

Anna Tabbush sang One More Day on her 2005 album Waiting in the Wings.

Danny Spooner sang One More Day on his 2009 CD Bold Reilly Gone Away. He noted:

One more day—the boys can smell the land at the end of the journey, so this shanty would have been sung with enthusiasm and could have been used, like many other shanties, for a variety of jobs from pumps to capstans, halyards to sweating up, but whatever the situation you can bet it was sung with vigour.

Keith Kendrick and chorus sang One More Day in 2011 on the anthology of shanties collected by Cecil Sharp from the Watchet sailor John Short, Short Sharp Shanties Vol. 2, and he sang it with Sylvia Needham on their 2012 WildGoose CD Well Dressed. The anthology’s online notes commented:

All the published versions place this shanty firmly just before the end of a voyage—perhaps just before Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her. However, it is cited for widely different tasks—as Hugill says, “Terry and Sharp give it as capstan; Bullen and Whall as halliards; Davis and Tozer as pumps, and Miss Colcord as windlass or capstan.” Short was very definite about how he used it—“Mr. Short told me he always used this as a capstan or windlass-chantey” and, strangely, he gave Sharp ‘outward bound’ verses rather than the ‘anticipating arrival’ verses one might expect. Notwithstanding, we’ve mixed the verses and included both Hugill’s inward and Short’s outward—someone is bound to complain!

The repeating of a line twice in each verse and the use of a grand chorus, both of which Hugill says was commonplace, are missing in what we have come to recognise as this early version. By Hugill’s time, the shanty was, he says, “more of a favourite with Yankee crews than British”.

Bella Hardy sang One More Day in 2013 on her CD Battleplan. She noted:

A shanty. I think this is most commonly sung using the name Johnny, but I once saw the title written as One More Day, Charlie and it stuck.

Faustus sang One More Day on their 2016 Westpark CD Death and Other Animals and in a shortened radio-edit version on their 2017 Westpark EP Slaves. They noted:

Retired mariner and shanty man John Short sang this to Cecil Sharp in Watchet, Somerset, on 20 April, 1914, who published it that year in English Folk Chanteys. Short (1839-1933), affectionately nicknamed ‘Yankee Jack’ after his exploits during the American Civil War, went to sea in 1853 at the age of 14, retiring from ocean-going voyages in the 1880s due to his wife’s ill health. Alongside duties as Watchet’s Town Crier, then as commander of the local fire brigade, he continued to sing from his large repertoire with other sailors at the harbourside and in concerts.

Emily Portman sang Rock’n’Row Me Over in 2022 on the Topic anthology Sea Song Sessions.

Lyrics

Home Service sing One More Day

Now’s the time to leave her, Johnny,
    One more day
And did you swear you’d not deceive her, Johnny,
    One more day
For we’re homeward bound tomorrow, Johnny,
    One more day
And will you leave her without sorrow, Johnny,
    One more day

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
Only one more day, my Johnny,
One more day, Johnny, One more day,
Oh come and rock’n’roll me over,
One more day.

Don’t you hear the old man calling, Johnny,
    One more day
And don’t you hear the first mate bawling, Johnny,
    One more day
Then put on your long-tailed blue, my Johnny,
    One more day
For you pay is nearly due, Johnny,
    One more day

Come and row me to my lover, Johnny,
    One more day
And let the starlight be my cover, Johnny,
    One more day
Only one more day together, Johnny,
    One more day
No more gales nor heavy weather, Johnny,
    One more day

Anna Tabbush sings One More Day

Don’t you hear the gulls a-calling Johnny,
    One more day
Don’t you hear the gulls a-calling,
    One more day

Don’t you hear the capstan pawling Johnny,
    One more day
Don’t you hear the capstan pawling,
    One more day

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
Only one more daym my Johnny,
One more day
Oh, come rock and roll me over,
One more day

Don’t you hear the old man growling Johnny,
    One more day
Don’t you hear the old man growling,
    One more day

Don’t you hear the girls a crying Johnny,
    One more day
Don’t you hear the girls a-crying,
    One more day

Then put your long tail blue me Johnny,
    One more day
For this night is nearly through
    One more day

Danny Spooner sings One More Day

Don’t you hear the old man growlin’
    One more day
Don’t you hear the striker bawlin’
    One more day

Chorus (twice after each verse):
Oh, it’s one more day, me Johnnies,
One more day
Oh rock and roll me over
One more day

Don’t you hear the pawls a-fallin’
Can’t you hear the blower bawlin’

Only one more day a-rollin’
Don’t you hear them gals a-callin’

Only one more day a-furlin’
Only one more day a-cursin’

Only one more day for you my Johnny
Your pay is overdue my Johnny

Put out your long-tail blue my Johnny
The trip is nearly through my Johnny

Bella Hardy sings One More Day

Have you heard the news, Charlie?
    One more day
We’re homeward bound tomorrow
    One more day

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
Only one more day, Charlie
Only one more day
Oh rock and roll me over, Charlie
One more day

Heave and sight the anchor, Charlie
    One more day
Oh heave and sight the anchor,
    One more day

I’m bound away to leave you, Charlie
    One more day
But I will not deceive you
    One more day

Faustus sing One More Day

I’m bound away to leave you,
Don’t let my parting grieve you,
We’re homeward bound tomorrow.
I’ll leave you without sorrow.

Chorus (twice after each verse):
One more day, Johnny, one more day,
Oh rock and roll me over for one more day.

Hear the Old Man growling,
Hear the first mate howling,
Hear the captain pawling,
Hear the pilot bawling.

Don’t you hear the gulls cawing,
One more day rolling,
One more day furling,
One more day cursing.

One more day pumping,
One more day bracing,
One more day working,
Oh rock and roll me over.

Come row me to my lover,
The starlight be my cover,
No gales nor heavy weather,
Come rock and roll me over.