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The Spanish Ladies

[ Roud 687 ; Master title: The Spanish Ladies ; Ballad Index ShH89 ; VWML CJS2/10/835 ; Bodleian Roud 687 ; trad.]

Paul Clayton sang Spanish Ladies in 1956 on his Tradition album Whaling and Sailing Songs From the Days of Moby Dick. He noted:

Melville begins Chapter XL of Moby Dick by describing the midnight watch standing around the forecastle and singing this favourite old British forecastle song. It is certainly the leading candidate for Melville’s favourite song for he mentions it again in White-Jacket, and his poem “Torn Deadlight” is patterned upon it. Although the song is a particularly British one, “true British sailors” easily becomes “New Bedford whalers”, just as in Newfoundland the song is sung with “true Newfoundlanders” substituted; in Australia, the words have been further changed and this phrase becomes “true Queensland drovers”.

The Cadgwith Cove Fishermen from Cornwall sang Farewell and Adieu (We’ll Rant and We’ll Roar) on 18 November 1956 to Peter Kennedy in the BBC recording 23654. It was included in 1994 on the Saydisc anthology Sea Songs and Shanties. Kennedy noted:

In most versions with Spain being the place of departure, the sailors are saying goodbye to ‘Spanish Ladies’ (the usual title), but its immense popularity is undoubtedly due to the homecoming nostalgia of sighting some of the well-known landmarks along the coast from the Scilly Isles to Southampton Water.

Ted Cobbin sang the derived Spithead to Keith Summers in between 1971 and 1976. It was included in 2006 on the Veteran CD of Summers’ recordings of traditional folk songs, music hall songs, and tunes from Suffolk, Good Hearted Fellows. Mike Yates commented:

This parody of the song Spanish Ladies (Roud 687) sounds as though it may date from the end of the Great War (1914-18), especially if the passing reference to ‘scuttling the fleet’ refers to the event of 21 June 1919, when the German fleet of 74 vessels was scuttled at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys.

Johnny Doughty sang Spanish Ladies on his 1976 Topic LP of traditional songs from the Sussex coast, Round Rye Bay for More. This recording was also included in 1998 on the Topic anthology We’ve Received Orders to Sail (The Voice of the People Series, Vol. 12). Mike Yates noted in the original album’s booklet:

Johnny calls this Up the Channel and learnt it as a boy in the Brighton net arches. Like The Mermaid it has become rather standardised through the influence of late 19^th century school book settings, although the broadside texts—the version printed here was issued by Hodges of Seven Dials and is from John Pitts’ stock—show just how little the song has altered in the last 150 years.

Bob Roberts sang Spanish Ladies on his 1981 album Breeze for a Bargeman.

Walter Pardon sang Spanish Ladies in 1982 at his home in Knapton, Norfolk, to Mike Yates. This recording was included in between 1987 and 1995 on the Veteran Tapes cassette of English traditional singers, The Horkey Load Volume 1, and in 2001 on the Veteran anthology of traditional folk music from Coastal England, When the Wind Blows. Mike Yates commented in the latter’s liner notes:

According to Cecil Sharp, “This is a Capstan Chantey (which) is also well known in the Navy, where it is sung as a song, chanteys not being permitted.” Versions have turned up all over England—probably as a result of the popularity of the broadside text printed c.1820 by John Pitts and subsequent printers—and it has proved especially popular along the eastern seaboard of North America, word sets being found repeatedly in both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Most versions, including that sung by Walter, show little variation from the broadside text.

Strawhead sang Spanish Ladies on their 1984 Traditional Sound Recordings album of “tales of the Elizabethan adventures”, Gentlemen of Fortune.

Rhiannon sang Spanish Ladies in 1985 on their Fellside album The Birds of Rhiannon.

John Tams sang The Spanish Bride on his 1996 album of the music of the ITV series Sharpe, Over the Hills and Far Away.

Hughie Jones sang Spanish Ladies on his 1999 Fellside CD Seascape.

Dr Faustus sang Spanish Ladies on their 2005 Fellside CD Wager. They noted:

The tune for this version of the popular Ibiza anthem is from the singing of Walter Pardon, but his words didn’t seem to make much sense, so we cribbed these from another Roy Palmer book, Boxing the Compass, with two slightly different lines kindly suggested by Martin Carthy.

Bill Frisell sang Spanish Ladies on the 2006 anthology of pirate ballads, sea songs and chanteys, Rogue’s Gallery.

The New Scorpion Band sang Spanish Ladies in 2008 on their CD Master Marenghi’s Music Machine. They noted:

A favourite song in the Royal Navy, and found in many versions around the English-speaking world. In Newfoundland, it has become a sort of unofficial national anthem: “We’ll rant and we’ll roar like true Newfoundlanders”. Stephen Reynolds in A Poor Man’s House recounts the Sidmouth fishermen singing the song out at sea, roaring out the famous litany of headlands in the up-channel verse:

The first land we made was a point called the Dodman
Then Rame Head off Plymouth, Start, Portland and Wight
We sailed then by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dungeness
And then we hove to off the South Foreland Light

Bob Lewis sang Spanish Ladies live at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival, Collessie, Fife in May 2009. This recording was published in the following year on his festival album Drive Sorrows Away.

Tom and Barbara Brown sang Spanish Ladies in 2014 on their WildGoose CD of songs collected by Cecil Sharp in Minehead, Somerset, from Captains Lewis and Vickery, Just Another Day. They noted:

Widespread, popular and supposed to be quite old—although the earliest broadside is 1845. Tom had some difficulty in learning Cpt. Lewis’s Æolian variant of the tune as both Tom’s father and the old singers in Cornwall sang the Ionian version!

The Exmouth Shanty Man sang Spanish Ladies in 2022 on their WildGoose album Tall Ships and Tavern Tales. They noted:

The shanty probably dates from the late 1790s when Spain and Britain were still allies against Revolutionary France. It was most likely sung as ships were homeward bound. Collectors give different distances between Ushant and Scilly!

Patakas (Joe and Will Sartin) sang Spanish Ladies in 2023 on their WildGoose EP When You’re Ready. They noted:

The earliest record of this song is in the 1796 logbook book of the HMS Nellie where it would have been used as a capstan shanty, to be sung as the sailors raised the anchor for their homeward voyage.

Dave Lowry sang Spanish Ladies on his 2024 WildGoose album Songs of a Devon Man. Bill Crawford noted:

This song was given to Dave by an old lodging mate who was a postman on Exmoor. A client had given him his school song sheets containing Two Magicians, and another couple of songs including this one. They were collected by Cecil Sharp from a retired Captain Lewis of Minehead, Somerset [VWML CJS2/10/835] . This recording [was made] by Phil Beer.

Lyrics

The Cadgwith Cove Fishermen sing Farewell and Adieu (We’ll Rant and We’ll Roar)

We’ll rant and we’ll roar like true British sailors,
We’ll rant and we’ll roar across the blue sea,
Until we strike soundings in the channel of Old England,
From the Ushant to the Scillies is thirty five leagues.

Now the first land we sighted was the land called the Deadman,
Rame Head—Start Point—Isle of Wight on her lee.
Then lower your main topsails and furl up your spankers,
From the Ushant to the Scillies is thirty five leagues.

(repeat chorus)

Ted Cobbin sings Spithead

Well, Spithead, the fleet, lay grim, dry and ready,
We thought not of war as we lay there at ease.
For we set ships set sails and set sails for the ocean
And show them that we’re still the Queen of the seas.

Chorus:
So we went to the war like true British sailors.
We went to the war with our squadrons of steel.
And we would have made hay of that old German navy,
If only they’d stopped when they came out of kill.

We had mines round the coast, we had mines in the battle,
We’d submarines scuttling from Shetland to Wight,
And the boys of the grand fleet wouldn’t budge from their station
Till they’d brought out the Germans and taught them to fight.

Won’t you come out and fight, won’t you come out and face us?
Don’t stay in your alleys, come out of your streets,
For our sweethearts in England for await to embrace us,
When we’ve battled, scattered and scuttled the fleet.

So here’s to the boys of the true British navy,
And here’s to the victories that waited them at sea.
And here’s to our chums in the locker of David,
And here’s to old England, the Queen of the Seas.

Johnny Doughty sings Up the Channel (Spanish Ladies)

Farewell and adieu all ye Spanish ladies,
Farewell and adieu all ye daughters of Spain,
’Cause we’ve just received orders to sail for Old England
But shortly we hope to return back again.

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
And we’ll rant and we’ll roar like a true British sailor,
We’ll rant and we’ll roar across the salt sea,
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England,
’Cause from Ushant from Scilly is thirty-five league.

Now the first point we made was the Eddystone lighthouse,
Next Ramshead off Plymouth, Start, Portland and Wight.
And then we sailed then by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dungeness
And we bore straightaway for the South Foreland light.

Now, we hove our ship to with the wind at sou’west, my boys,
We hove our ship to for to make soundings clear.
And then we brailed the main topsail and we bore right away, my boys,
Then right up the Channel our course we did steer.

Walter Pardon sings Spanish Ladies

Farewell and adieu all you fine Spanish Ladies
Farewell and adieu you fine ladies of Spain
For we’ve received orders to sail for old England
And we hope in a short time to see you again.

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
We’ll rant and we’ll roar like true British sailors
We’ll rant and we’ll roar the rest of our lives
We’ll drink and be merry and drown melancholy
And here’s a good health to all sweethearts and wives

We hove our ship to with the wind at south west boys
We hove our ship to—two strikes soundings clear
We let go our topsails and bore right away boys
And straight up the channel our course we did steer.

The signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor
We furled our top sails stuck out tacks and sheets
We stood by our stop as we brailed in our spanker
And anchored ahead of the noblest of fleets

Then let every man drink up his full bumper
Then let every man drink up his full glass
For we will be jolly and drown melancholy
And drink a good health to each true hearted lass

Dr Faustus sings Spanish Ladies

Farewell and adieu, you fine Spanish ladies
Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Spain
For we’ve received orders to sail for old England
And I hope in a short while we’ll see you again

We hove our ship to with the wind at south-west, boys
Hove our ship to, to strike soundings clear
We let go our topsail and bore right away, boys
Straight up the Channel our course we did steer

Chorus (after each verse):
We’ll rant and we’ll roar like true British sailors
We’ll rant and we’ll roar the rest of our lives
We’ll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy
Here’s a health to old England, our sweethearts and wives

The first land we made was called the Deadman
Ramshead off Plymouth, off Portsmouth, the Wight
We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dover
Then bore away for the South Foreland Light

The signal was made for the Grand Fleet to anchor
All on the Downs that night for to lie
We’ll let go cat stoppers, so clear the shank painters
Haul in clew garnets, let sheets and tacks fly

Then let every man drink up his full bumper
Let every man drink up his full glass
We will be jolly and drown melancholy
And drink a good health to each sweetheart and lass