Sea Songs from Country/Bluegrass 2005
This provocative medley of songs about the sea has a few rare Chanteys and other more well known songs. Here are the best of that medley:
Instrumentation: String bass, Karen Richason; 5-string banjo, Mark Richason; Guitar, Michael Roy, Piano, Diane M. percussion, Dean Vellenga.
Santiano - Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald - The first song, a sea chantey, was made famous by the Kingston Trio in the '60's. MR uses his 12-string guitar for the folk song. Solos by MR and tenor, Alan Goolsby. "Edmund Fitzgerald," by the Canadian folksinger
and songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot (who recently passed on May 1, 2023 - RIP), is about the famous shipwreck on Lake Superior. Solos by Claudia Springer and Ted Grab. The Immanuel Singers do an excellent job in the eclectic style of these enjoyable sea songs.
Bulgine Run: Perhaps the most unusual and least known song in the medley, this rare hauling chantey brings the railroad track to the dockside where goods are transferred between train and ship. The "bulgine" was the sailor's term for the train's steam engine.
the men of both the train and the ship sing this song, and all dream of Liza Lee. At the end, you hear all the wenches and sailor's wives who live just off the wharf singing the last refrain. The "Margaret Evans" was a "packet ship" running from New England to old England. Solos by MR and Ted Grab, who sounds exactly like a sea captain should.
Sloop John B: Another of the Kingston trio songs from folk's golden era (1958), and later became a huge hit for the Beach Boys. It's a West Indies chantey about a sunken ship. Solos by MR and Lou Rose.
Shenandoah (arr. MR): Garrison Keillor, being of Lutheran heritage, naturally loves choral music. He had a comedy sketch on his Prairie Home Companion spoofing that "Shenandoah," was arranged way too often and legislation should be passed to outlaw
any further charts on this tune. He was being facetious, of course, but all choral directors and arrangers will appreciate the wry take. Immediately after MR heard the skit, he went straight home and wrote this arrangement, to get it under the wire before it became a felony. Shenandoah is in fact a sea chantey.
Gilligan's Island Theme: This cut includes the tongue-in-cheek intro, and after the song, the recognition of the players who impersonated the TV show's cast members. We wanted to preserve the entirety of the song, its companion skit, and the audience's enthusiastic
reaction. You will hear the audience react, first to the song itself, which was introduced as a "rare sea song barely saved for posterity by musicologists." And second: when the cast members enter into the concert hall. The Gilligan's Island theme and cast impersonation was one of three TV show theme songs and companion skits staged in the Country/ Bluegrass Concerts in the four years at Immanuel. You can find the other two in Country/Bluegrass - Immanuel.