Royal Navy songs and sea shanties began with silence
The first thing to know about Royal Navy songs is that the Navy did not want its sailors singing while they worked. Sea shanties, the call-and-response work songs that most people now picture when they think of sailors, belonged to merchant ships. On a well-run man-of-war, orders had to be heard, and an early nineteenth-century account describes the rule plainly: nobody except the officers was allowed to speak while the crew carried out the ship's evolutions. Work at the capstan was set to the bosun's call, or to a fifer or fiddler playing a favourite tune, and the men would "stamp and go" in time to it.
That makes the relationship between Royal Navy songs and sea shanties stranger than it looks. Captain W. B. Whall, an English sailor who published on the subject from experience of the 1860s and 1870s, claimed that only two shanties were ever sung in the Royal Navy, and that one of them was "Drunken Sailor". Its brisk, marching rhythm suited exactly the kind of walk-away hauling the Navy still allowed. So the song most people learn first as "the" sea shanty is also, oddly, one of the few with a genuine naval pedigree.
Sea songs: the leisure repertoire
Working songs were only half of a sailor's music. Off watch, in the forecastle or gathered round the fore bitts on the foredeck in fine weather, crews sang for pleasure, and these songs are usually called sea songs or forebitters to separate them from the shanties used for work. Anything could be sung: love songs, ballads, the music-hall hits of the day. Some became firmly naval. "Spanish Ladies", a homeward-bound song naming the headlands of the Channel, was first popular in the Royal Navy before it spread everywhere else.
| Kind | When it was sung | Where it belonged | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shanty | During work: hauling, heaving, pumping | Merchant ships; rarely the Navy | Drunken Sailor |
| Capstan tune | Raising the anchor | Navy, on fife or fiddle | Jack's the Lad |
| Sea song | Off watch, for pleasure | Every kind of ship | Spanish Ladies |
| March | Ceremony and parade | Royal Navy, officially | Heart of Oak |
| Lower-deck song | Messes, runs ashore, reunions | The twentieth-century Navy | The Oggie Man |
Heart of Oak, the official march
The Royal Navy's official march is "Heart of Oak", and its story is one of the oldest in the repertoire. The music was written in 1759 by William Boyce and the words by the actor David Garrick for a pantomime, Harlequin's Invasion, first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on New Year's Eve that year. The "wonderful year" in its first verse is 1759 itself, Britain's Annus Mirabilis, when victories at Minden, Lagos, Quebec and Quiberon Bay ended a planned French invasion. The oak of the title is the timber of the wooden walls; the heart of oak is the strongest wood at the centre of the tree. The march is still played by several Commonwealth navies, including those of Canada and New Zealand.
The lower-deck song in the twentieth century
When sail gave way to steam, the work songs lost their work, but sailors kept writing songs about the life. The twentieth-century naval song is mostly the lower-deck song: written by serving men about runs ashore, food, officers, girlfriends and the particular absurdities of service life, and passed round the messes rather than printed. The man who did most to collect and perform it was Cyril Tawney, born in Gosport in 1930, who joined the Royal Navy at sixteen and served thirteen years, several of them in submarines. He left in 1959 to become a professional singer and broadcaster, researched the songs of the West Country and of the modern Navy, and is often called the founding father of the West Country folk revival.
Two of Tawney's songs travelled furthest. "The Oggie Man", written in 1959, mourns the pasty seller at the gate of Devonport Dockyard, pushed out by the hot-dog stands. "Sally Free and Easy", written in the late 1950s about a girl who two-timed him, has been recorded by Pentangle, The Corries, Marianne Faithfull, Alan Stivell, Davey Graham and Bob Dylan among others. It is not to be confused with Gracie Fields's "Sally", the music-hall song of the 1930s.
Where the songs live now
Royal Navy songs survive today mainly in three places: folk clubs, shanty bands and the reunions of naval associations. The last of these matters more than outsiders realise. A Royal Naval Association branch evening, or a reunion of the old boys of a training establishment like HMS Ganges, is an audience that knows every word and expects the singer to know the jokes too. Portsmouth's Shep Woolley built much of his career on exactly that circuit, alongside the 'Ansom Cabin Buoys, a shanty band whose repertoire went from "Drunken Sailor" to rock'n'roll. In April 2007 he sang at Cecil Sharp House in London at an evening celebrating Tawney's life, which is as neat a passing of the tradition as any.
For anyone starting out, the best route in is the one sailors always used: learn a chorus, join in, and do not worry too much about the verses. The verses change from singer to singer. The chorus is what keeps the song alive.
FAQ
Did Royal Navy sailors sing sea shanties?
Rarely. Shanties were work songs of merchant ships. The Royal Navy banned singing during work so orders could be heard, and used the bosun's call, fife and drum or a fiddler instead. Drunken Sailor was one of the few exceptions.
What is the official march of the Royal Navy?
Heart of Oak, with music by William Boyce and words by David Garrick, written in 1759 for the pantomime Harlequin's Invasion at Drury Lane.
What is the difference between a shanty and a sea song?
A shanty was sung while working, to keep a crew hauling or heaving together. A sea song, or forebitter, was sung off watch for pleasure, and could be about anything.
Who wrote Sally Free and Easy?
Cyril Tawney, the Gosport-born folk singer who served thirteen years in the Royal Navy. It has been recorded by Pentangle, The Corries, Marianne Faithfull and Bob Dylan, among others.
What is a good shanty band song to start with?
Drunken Sailor is the easiest: it has a strong chorus, a marching rhythm and a genuine Royal Navy connection. Spanish Ladies and Leaving of Liverpool are good next steps.