> A.L. Lloyd > Songs > Reuben Ranzo
> Louis Killen > Songs > Reuben Ranzo

Reuben Ranzo

[ Roud 3282 ; Ballad Index Doe023 ; Folkinfo 137 ; DT RBNRANZO ; Mudcat 172056 ; trad.]

Alasdair Clayre: 100 Folk Songs and New Songs Joanna C. Colcord: Songs of American Sailormen Nick Dow: Southern Songster Ralph Dunstan: The Cornish Songbook W.B. Whall: Sea Songs and Shanties

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

This halyard shanty is thought to have originated on whaling ships and then to have been picked up and used by merchantmen as well. The name Ranzo may be a corruption of ‘Loreozo’, a name common among Portuguese sailors—who were frequently part of whaling crews. I obtained my version from Mr. Calvin of Perkins, of New Bedford.

A.L. Lloyd sang the halyard shanty Reuben Ranzo on Ewan MacColl’s and his albums Thar She Blows! (1957), The Black Ball Line (1957), and Blow the Man Down (1963), and on the compilations Sea Songs and Shanties (Topic Sampler No 7), Chants de Marins IV: Ballads, Complaintes et Shanties des Matelots Anglais, and Sailors’ Songs & Sea Shanties.

A.L. Lloyd noted on the Blow the Man Down sleeve:

A great favourite among topgallant halyard shanties. It has been suggested that “Ranzo” is a corruption of the name: Lorenzo. American whaling ships often recruited Portuguese seamen in the Azores, and Ranzo may have been one of these. However, if the song originated in whaling vessels it seems to have spread quickly to ships of other kinds and became as well known to British as to American seamen.

Louis Killen sang Reuben Ranzo at a midnight folk concert recorded in London in May 1963. This recording was included in the same year on his, Bob Davenport’s and Redd Sullivan’s Decca EP Sea Shanties. He also sang it in 1970 on the South Street Seaport Museum album 50 South to 50 South, and in 1974 as lead singer, with a chorus of Tony Barrand, Gordon Bok, Jon Eberhart, John Roberts, Andy Wallace and Jeff Warner, on the Hudson River Sloop Restoration charity album, Clearwater.

Martyn Wyndham-Read sang Reuben Ranzo with a chorus of Roy Harris, A.L. Lloyd, Ian Manuel and Bernard Wrigley in 1974 on the Topic anthology Sea Shanties. A.L. Lloyd noted:

Pretty well every collector of shanties came across versions of this one, so it must have been a big favourite in its time. It’s unusually ballad-like, considering it was often used for heavy work on the topgallant halyards (heavy work shanties inclined to have bitty texts, because more than ever, the point of singing was in the rhythm). Some say Ranzo was a Portuguese, perhaps from the Azores, where they’re great on whaling to this day. His escapades were likely to be told at length according to the duration of the job. Mostly, he emerges without much credit, in versions primitve or evolved, or midway like ours.

Hedgehog Pie sang Reuben Ranzo in 1978 on their Rubber album Just Act Normal.

The Shanty Men, with John Goodluck in lead, sang Reuben Ranzo in 1978 on their eponymous Greenwich Village album The Shanty Men.

Folk och Rackare sang a Swedish version, Ruben Ranzo, in 1979 on their album Anno 1979. They noted [my translation]:

Ruben Ranzo is a hauling song appearing in a lot of variants in different languages. Our version has been frequently sung among Norwegian and Swedish sailors.

The origin is an American mocking song about stowaways and emigrant con men, so-called “Western Ocean Packet Rats”. According to English sea practice, a shilling was the lowest possible wage—for the lowest rating on the crew. Read more in Sternvall’s Sång under segel.

Danny Spooner sang Reuben Ranzo on his 1988 album We’ll Either Bend or Break ’Er.

Ian Giles, John Spiers, Jon Boden, and Graham Metcalfe sang Ruben Ranzo in 2002 on the Gift of Music album Sea Shanties.

The X-Seaman’s Institute sang Reuben Ranzo on the 2004 anthology Classic Maritime Music from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

Barbara Brown with a chorus of Tom Brown and Keith Kendrick sang The Bully Boat (Ranzo Ray) in 2012 on the S&A Projects / WildGoose album of sea songs collected by Cecil Sharp from the Watchet sailor John Short, Short Sharp Shanties Vol. 3. The album’s booklet noted:

All the collectors give this as a sail-setting halyard shanty, Doerflinger in particular mentioning the t’gallants. It was widespread and popular on both English and American ships. All the collectors spend more time speculating on who Ranzo was rather than anything else—and never reach a conclusion! Was he the Danish fleet commander (Daniel Rantzau - 1529-69) from the seven years war with Sweden, as suggested by Sharp? Or, as Whall suggests, was Ranzo a corruption of Lorenzo, since Yankee Whalers took many Portuguese men from the Azores, where Lorenzo, would have been a common enough name? Or does the shanty derive from a Sicilian fisherman’s song, as given by Hugill, which was “used at a similar job… The tune is identical with that of Reuben Ranzo and the pulls come in the same places.”? As Terry says, “Who Ranzo was must ever remain a mystery.”

Hugill cites this particular shanty as a classic example of the habit of overlapping verse and chorus between shantyman and crew—a technique we have kept to. Our text is all from Short except for Terry’s ‘turkey’ verse which we’ve included to give a reason for the flogging—as if one were needed. It is the only element in the text which, most collectors point out, is variable—the rest being noticeably consistent.

Short sang ‘Rando’ instead of ‘Ranzo’ consistently for both this shanty and for The Bully Boat (Ranzo Ray). Tom has kept ‘Rando’ for The Bully Boat, but Barbara has reverted to ‘Ranzo’ for this one. Perhaps it comes down to whether Short had his teeth in (but see the notes to The Bully Boat!).

Tim Radford sang Ranzo in 2012 on his Forest Tracks album of maritime songs collected by George Gardiner in Hampshire in 1905-1909, From Spithead Roads. He noted:

Collected from James J. Bounds aged 52, in Portsmouth Workhouse 14 August 1907, local manuscript No H882 and Round No. 2626.
Gardiner says in notes, tune is distinct to Smith’s Music of the Waters p.19, 21 & 22. It is almost identical to Tozer No. 20.

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

Various theories describe Reuben Ranzo as Portuguese, Danish, Russian, Polish or American Latin! It is said to be a favourite song of the fo’c’sle (sailor’s living quarters on ship) because of the innuendo directed at the officers.

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings Reuben Ranzo

Oh, poor old Reuben Ranzo,
Ranzo, my boys, Ranzo
Oh, poor old Reuben Ranzo,
Ranzo, my boys, Ranzo

Oh, Ranzo was no sailor
So he shipped aboard a whaler

Oh, Ranzo was no beauty
So he couldn’t do his duty

Oh, because he was so dirty
He give him five and thirty

Oh, the skipper’s daughter Suzy
Well, she begged her dad for mercy

Oh, she give him wine and water
And a bit more than she ought to

Well, he got his first mate papers
He’s a terror to the whalers

Now he’s known wherever them whale-fish blow
As the hardest master on the go

Martyn Wendham-Read sings Reuben Ranzo

Oh, poor old Reuben Ranzo,
Ranzo, boys, Ranzo
He sold his plough and harrow,
Ranzo, my boys, Ranzo

Well, Ranzo was no sailor,
So he shipped aboard a whaler.

Well, Ranzo was no beauty,
And he couldn’t do his duty.

Well, he done his hair with oil,
But he couldn’t furl a royal.

They took him to the gangway,
And they gave him lashes twenty.

The skipper ordered thirty,
But his daughter begged for mercy.

And she took him in the cabin,
And she give him rum and brandy.

Aye, she give him wine and water,
And a bit more than she oughter.

And she taught him navigation,
And she give him education.

Well, he married the old man’ daughter,
And he’s sailing on blue water.

Now Ranzo he’s the skipper,
Aboard a Yankee clipper.

I wish I was old Ranzo’s son.
I’d build a ship of a thousand ton.

Oh, a shining ship of a thousand ton,
And I’d give my sailors plenty of rum.

But now old Ranzo’s dead and gone;
No-one to sing his funeral song.

Danny Spooner sings Reuben Ranzo

Oh Jesus Christ Almighty
Ranzo boys, Ranzo,
Oh Jesus Christ Almighty,
Ranzo my boys, Ranzo.

Oh Ranzo was no sailor,
But he shipped aboard a whaler.

He washed once in a fortnight,
He said it was his birthright.

Because he was so dirty
The skipper give him thirty.

Aye the skipper give him thirty
But his daughter begged fer mercy.

She took ’im to her cabin,
To try and ease his aching.

She give him rum and water,
And a bit more than she oughta.

She give ’im ejercation,
And taught ’im navigation.

She made him the best sailor,
Aboard a Yankee whaler.

Now he’s known wherever the whalefish blow,
As the toughest bastard on the go.

(repeat first verse)

Tim Radford sings Ranzo

Oh, poor old roving Ranzo,
Ranzo boys Ranzo
Poor old roving Ranzo
Ranzo boys Ranzo

Now Ranzo came to New Brunswick
And he shipped on board of a whaler

Now he shipped for an able seaman
Now Ranzo was no sailor

Now Ranzo was a tailor
So he could not do his duty

So they took him to the first mate
Now the first mate being a bully

He triced him to a grating
And he gave him four and twenty

Now the Captain being a good man
He took him down in the cabin

And he gave him wine and brandy
And he married the Captain’s daughter

And he learned him navigation
Now Ranzo is a Captain

Of a fine old Yankee clipper
Good luck to poor old Ranzo