First shanty rehearsal

So Fridays get together went well and we've settled on about 10 songs. Not all of them are shanties, but all have connections to the sea. Mike has come up with a cracker of a song called Barrows Boys, Ash has got an original from a guy in Dalton about a light house on the hill and we've found a few beauties for all round raucous singing. We spent about 2 hours looking at tunes and eventually setted on 10, which of course includes Drunken sailor, and Lady Franklins Lament, to name but two. I really enjoyed our session as did Ash and Mike, we could pull this off on our own but if we can get another few voices in there it would truly sparkle.
Mike was a bit worried about a line I had to sing in one song, which had a line about German girls being fat and lazy. He said we could get hauled up before the racial equality laws, so we best leave that line out. So all our set will have to be gone over with a fine tooth comb now, just in case, welcome to 21st century Britain.
All in all then we're on our way, next rehearsal is set for next Friday and then on Monday 19th at 8pm we will invite some singers to join us to beef up the raucous bits.
If you want to help celebrate this monumental gala day then why not join me Mike and Ash on the 19th, or call me at the studio at Ford Park.

I don't know the first thing about sea shanties

August the 22nd is the day set for the monument to be re-opened and Ford Park are putting on a gala, to celebrate the day. I have suggested that I try to get some singers and musicians to perform a set of sea shanties. Now I don't know the first thing about sea shanties but I am now in the throws of gathering some musicians and singers together and looking for sea shanties on you tube. I've found a lot of rubbish, or at least stuff I don't gel with but I've found a few that I think are doable. In fact it's been quite fun, and after getting into sailing recently I can quite appreciate what these songs were about. I've got our first get together with Mike and Ash planned for Friday. I've written a song for the occasion already to go and Mike is going to write something too. So we'll have a couple of original songs just for the occasion along with whatever else we can find. I hope to get about 6 to eight singers but we're right at the start, we've about six or seven weeks to go so I'll keep you posted to our progress.