General Taylor (aka Stormy aka Walk Him Along)
I sing this slower while rowing than I do in a pub session on account of the timing of the rowing stroke. It is different in different boats, and this is the boat I had available to record that day!
Chorus
Way, hey, Stormy
Walk him along, John, carry him along
Way, hey, Stormy
Carry him to his burying ground
Verses
Stormy he is dead and gone
Walk him along, John, carry him along
Stormy he is dead and gone
Carry him to his burying ground
We'll dig his grave with a silver spade
His shroud of finest silk was made
You who dig old Stormy's grave
Dig it deep and make it safe
Oh lower him down with a golden chain
Be sure that he don't rise again
Oh General Taylor died long ago
He's gone, me boys, where the wind don't blow
He died on the fields of Monterey
Santa Anna gained the day
Daniel O'Connol died that day
Daniel was an Irish boyo
We'll haul me boys to wake the dead
And stow him in his little bed
Roud 216 (shared with the Stormalong family)
- Stan Hugill, Shanties from the Seven Seas (1961), pp. 78-80 (as "Walk Me Along, Johnny") [AbEd pp. 72-73]
- Stan Hugill, Songs of the Sea (1977), pp. 120-121
- Joanna C. Colcord, Songs of American Sailormen (1938), pp. 38-39 (as "Stormalong")
- Cecil Sharp, English Folk-Chanteys (1914), XXXIII, pp. 38-39
- W.B. Whall, Sea Songs and Shanties (1910), pp. 62-63 (as "Stormalong")
- Richard Runciman Terry, The Shanty Book, Part 1 (1921)
- Frederick Pease Harlow, Chanteying Aboard American Ships (1962), pp. 86-88
- William Main Doerflinger, Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman (1951/1972), pp. 20-22
- Frank Shay, American Sea Songs and Chanteys (1948)
- David W. Bone, Capstan Bars (1931)
- Louis Killen on 50 South to 50 South (South Street Seaport Museum, 1970)
- Steeleye Span (1971 sessions)
- Sam Lee on Short Sharp Shanties Vol. 1 (2011)
- She Shanties on Spanker Boom (Bandcamp, 2015)
- Mor Ladron on Wrecked (Bandcamp, 2016)