Huckleberry Hunting
This is recorded with Edith Gawler, Elsie Gawler, and Ethan Tischler.
February 2022
Oh, the boys and the girls went a-huckleberry hunting,
Way hey, heya!
Well, the boys and the girls went a-huckleberry hunting,
And sing Hilo, my Ranzo Ray - Ya!
Well the little girl ran off, and the boy he ran after
He said, "I'll be your beau if you'll have me for a feller,"
What would you give for a fine leg of mutton
I would give you gold and I would give you these
I'm the lead goose of the wild goose nation
I'm the shantyman of this workin' party
Backstory:
Before I started working on the schooners out of Camden and Rockland I worked raking berries for Donald Burke in Appleton. This built on a tradition my sister and I had as kids with my mother, where we'd walk to local blueberry fields and pick berries for pies and for the freezer. This song neatly combines those two parts of my youth.
The song can be found in Johanna Colcord's "Roll and Go, Songs of the American Sailormen."
We recorded this for a sea shanty class I was teaching over Zoom for Jämtlands Gymnasium in Östersund, Sweden. During Covid their 90 person chorus couldn't meet in the same room, so we learned about Sea Shanties over the internet. In 2024 I was in Umeå, Sweden at UmeFolk festival and some very excited teenagers saw me singing and said "Bennett! Let's sing Shanties!" They had been in the class. We sang until dawn.
Sources
- Whall, Sea Songs and Shanties (1910/1913)
- Colcord, Songs of American Sailormen (1924)
- Bullen & Arnold, Songs of Sea Labour (1914) - titled "What Did You Give for Your Fine Leg of Mutton"
- Terry - titled "The Wild Goose Shanty"
- Cecil Sharp - collected from Watchet sailor John Short (one and a half verses)
Recordings
- A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl - Blow Boys Blow, Tradition Records, 1957
- Barbara Brown - Short Sharp Shanties Vol. 2, WildGoose, 2011
- Forebitter (Jerry Bryant, lead) - YouTube
- The Roaring Trowmen - Man Down!, 2022