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Talcahuano Girls

A.L. Lloyd sang Talcahuano Girls, a song about the early 19^th century Pacific sperm and right whale fishing, on his 1967 Topic album Leviathan! Ballads & Songs of the Whaling Trade. He was accompanied by Alf Edwards on English concertina, Dave Swarbrick on fiddle, Martin Carthy on mandolin with Trevor Lucas and Martyn Wyndham-Read singing chorus. This track was also included in 1984 on the French anthology Chants de Marins IV: Ballads, Complaintes et Shanties des Matelots Anglais and in 1994 on the Fellside compilation CD Classic A.L. Lloyd.

This song is almost certainly a rewrite by Lloyd of the popular Newfoundland song The Ryans and the Pittmans (Roud 21113) (which is itself a ca. 1877 rewrite of Spanish Ladies by H. W. LeMussurier, Newfoundland’s Deputy Minister of Customs), though Lloyd hides this in the sleeve notes of his recording:

The song called Spanish Ladies was on the go among seamen in Samuel Pepys’ day, but by the 1840s, Captain Mattyat (author of Midshipman Easy) reported it as “now almost forgotten”. Nevertheless it survived well in countless parodies (one of them associated with Australian drovers, as it happens). The present version belongs to the rowdy South-Seamen who, particularly during the first half of the 19^th century, sailed out of London and Hull to hunt the sperm whale off the coasts of Chile and Peru. Talcahuano lies south of Valparaiso in Chile; Huasco is about midway between Vallypo and Antofagasta; Tumbez is on the Gulf of Guayanquil, near the Equator: odorous ports, all three.

The Critics Group sang We’ll Rant and We’ll Roar at the Teatro Lirico in Milan, Italy, on 24 April 1968. This recording was published in 1970 on their Italian album Living Folk.

Jim Eldon sang Talcahuano Girls live at Folk Union One in 1969. This recording was published in the same year on the privately issued album Blue Bell Folk.

Robin and Barry Dransfield sang The Talcahuano Girls in 1977 on their Free Reed album Popular to Contrary Belief. This track was also included in 1997 on their Free Reed anthology Up to Now.

Danny Spooner and Duncan Brown sang Talcahuano Girls on Spooner’s 2006 CD of songs of the whaling industry, The Great Leviathan. He noted:

Whaling captains, particularly the Americans, kept detailed charts of the whaling grounds of the world and could predict fairly accurately where whales would appear at different seasons. They also knew which islands were friendly and where they might get fresh provisions and allow their crews some shore time. However, with money in their pockets, whaling men, like most other sailor, looked for a good time when ashore. Life was tough and pleasures few aboard a whaling ship and the chance of some fun would often over-ride common sense.

The tune of this song was also used for the shanty Spanish Ladies and the Australian drovers’ song Augathella Station. Is this perhaps a blending of the two?

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings Talcahuano Girls

Oh, I’ve been a sea-cook and I’ve been a clipperman,
I can sing, I can dance, I can walk the jib-boom.
I can handle a harpoon and cut a fine figure
Whenever I get in a boat’s standing room.

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
And we’ll rant and we’ll roar like trueborn young whalermen,
We’ll rant and we’ll roar on deck or below,
Until we see bottom inside the two sinkers,
And straight up the channel to Huasco we’ll go.

I was in Talcahuano last year in a whaler.
I bought some gold brooches for the girls in the Bay.
I bought me a pipe and they called it a meerscum,
And it melted like butter on a hot shiny day.

I went to a dance one night in old Tumbez,
There was plenty of girls there as fine as you’d wish.
There was one pretty maiden a-chewing tobacco,
Just like a young kitten a-chewing fresh fish.

Here’s a health to the girls of old Talcahuano,
A health to the maidens of far-off Maui.
And let you be merry, don’t be melancholy;
I can’t marry youse all or in chokey I’d be.

The Critics sings We’ll Rant and We’ll Roar

I’ve been a sea-cook and I’ve been a clipperman,
I can sing, I can dance, I can walk the jibrboom.
I can handle a harpoon and cut a fine figure
Whenever I get in a boat’s standing room.

Last year in a whaler in old Talcahuana
I bought some gold rings for the girls in the yay.
I bought me a pipe that they called it a meerscum,
It melted like butter upon a hot day.

I went to a dance one night in old Tumbez,
There was plenty of girls there as fine as you’d wish.
There was one pretty maiden a-chewing tobacco,
Just like a young kitten a-chewing fresh fish.

Danny Spooner sings Talcahuano Girls

Oh I’ve been a sea-cook and I’ve been a clipperman.
I can dance, I can sing, I can walk the jib-boom.
I can handle a harpoon and cut a fine figure
Whenever I get in a boat’s standing room.

Chorus (after each verse):
We’ll rant and we’ll roar like true born young whalermen,
We’ll rant and we’ll roar on deck and below;
Until we see bottom inside the two sinkers
And straight up the channel to Westcombe we’ll go.

I was in Talcahuano last year in a whaler
And I bought some gold watches from the girls in the bay,
I bought me a pipe and they called it a Meersham,
But it melted like butter on an ’ot shiny day.

There’s plenty of girls in old Talcahuano,
There’s plenty of damsels as fine as you wish;
There was one little darling a-chewing tobacco,
Just like a young kitten a-chewing fresh fish.

Farewell to you gals of old Talcahuano,
Farewell to you maidens of far off Maui.
Oh, don’t you be sorry, don’t be melancholy,
I can’t marry you all—or in chokey I’ll be.

Acknowledgements

A.L. Lloyd’s lyrics were copied from the Leviathan! sleeve notes.