And it’s cheer up, me lads, let your hearts never fail
A.L. Lloyd – Leviathan! Ballads & Songs Of The Whaling Trade
Back in the naughties, I set sail on a sea shanty tip. It was part of a more general English folk tip, but sea shanties really did it for me.
The moans, groans, hopes, dreams, fears, desires and celebrations of working class young men dragged off to sea to battle the French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, freebooters, privateers, the geography, the weather, illness, malnutrition, the Captain, the sea, or – as in this collection – whales.
We live quite near what was once a prime whaling region, and I always find it deeply moving to go down south and look at how many shipwrecks there were along that section of coast. Poor bastards from London, Bristol Liverpool or wherever, sailing in from a spell around freezing Antarctica, finally sailing towards beautiful and sunny Victor Harbor, then striking a rock and drowning.
A.L. Loyd has one of those instantly recognisable imperfect-perfect voices. On this album he’s joined by some real folk heavyweights (including Dave Swarbrick and Martin Carthy). He should really be better known in Australia, considering his links to the place.
This album comes with a leaflet of lyrics and descriptions of different types of whales, which is bound to come in handy one day.
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