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Sailor Song: The Shanties and Ballads of the High Seas
Hardback
Main Details
Title |
Sailor Song: The Shanties and Ballads of the High Seas
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Authors and Contributors |
By (author) Gerry Smyth
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Illustrated by Jonny Hannah
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Physical Properties |
Format:Hardback | Pages:160 | Dimensions(mm): Height 216,Width 151 |
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Category/Genre | Musical scores and lyrics |
ISBN/Barcode |
9780712353700
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Classifications | Dewey:782.421595 |
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Audience | |
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Publishing Details |
Publisher |
British Library Publishing
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Imprint |
British Library Publishing
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Publication Date |
21 January 2021 |
Publication Country |
United Kingdom
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Description
Passed down in the oral tradition and sung traditionally as working songs, sea shanties tell the human stories of life at sea: hard graft, battling the elements, the loss of ships or pining for a lady on shore. Its pages decorated with hand-drawn or wood-cut illustrations from celebrated artist Jonny Hannah, Sailor Song addresses the current modern revival of sea shanties, and seeks to celebrate and to explore the historical, musical and social history of the traditional sea song through 40 beautiful, mournful, haunting and uplifting shanties. Acclaimed shanty devotee Gerry Smyth presents the background to each one alongside musical notation. The lyrics are elaborated with explanations of terminology, context including historical facts and accounts of life at sea, and the characters, both fictional and non-fictional, that appear in the songs from the great age of sail to the last days of square-rig. Where appropriate, a direct digital link is made to a shanty recording in the British Library Sound Archive.
Author Biography
Professor Gerry Smyth works in the English Department at Liverpool John Moores University. Gerry introduces Sailor Song and has selected and annotated the entries, providing the accompanying feature text.
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