dmcg
| Posted - 13 Dec 02 - 01:35 pm
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Boney
Boney was a war-rye-or,
(Chorus: Way-aye-yah!)
A war-rye-or, a ter-rye-or,
(Chrus: Jonny Franswor!)
Boney beat the Prussians,
The Osstrye-ans an' the Rooshye-ans.
Boney wnet to school in France,
He learnt to make the Rooshians dance.
Oh, Boney mached to Moscow,
Lost his army in the snow.
Boney wuz a Frenchyman,
But Boney had to turn again.
He wuz sent to Elba,
Wisht he'd niver bin there.
He whacked the Proosians squarely,
He beat the English nearly.
We licked him in Trafalgar's Bay,
Carried his man topm'st away.
'Twas on the Plains of Waterloo,
He met the boy who put 'm through.
He met the Duke of Wellington,
An' then his downfall wuz begun.
The long-nosed Dook he put him through,
He put 'im through at Waterloo.
Boney went a-cru-sye-in,
Aboard the Billy Ruf-fye-an.
They sent him into exile,
He died on St Helena's Isle.
Boney was a war-rye-or,
He rorty, snorty, war-rye-or.
Source: Hugill, Stan, (1969), Shanties and Sailors Songs, London, Herbert Jenkins
Notes:
Stan Hugill write:
As well as being a halyard shanty, Boney was occasionally used as a sheet or short-haul song. Obviously it was born during or shortly after the Napoleonic Wars. Some think it was based on the French seamen's hauling song Jen Fran�§ois de Nantes, but I rather fancy the reverse occurred. In the hands of most shantymen its narrative was a fairly historical one, although some singers did have Boney crossing the Rockies. This was one shanty in which the common shore folk-song style of pronouncing all short "i" sounds as "eye" was rather overdone by some singers. The "Franswor" in the refrains is, of course, the French name "Fran�§ois." In the twelfth verse, the "billy Ruffian" is the sailor pronounciation of of the British man-o'-war Bellerophon which took Napolean as a prisoner to St Helena. Boney is one of the very few shanties which, as far as I know, has no obscene version.
The fifth verse contains a ratherly deeply hidden sailor quip. A "Frenchman" or a "frenchyman" is the term given to an underhand turn put i a rope when coiling up a fall. German sailors call this method of coiling "putting in an Englander." In both cases the member of the race named is thought to be underhanded by the user.
Database entry is here
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masato sakurai
| Posted - 22 Mar 03 - 02:53 am
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Other notes to "Boney":
(1) W.B. Whall, Ships, Sea Songs and Shanties, 3rd ed. (James Brown & Son, 1913, p. 116):1. O Bony was a warrior,
(Away-ay-ah)
A warrior, a terr(i)or,
(Jean Français)
This was a very favourite hauling song for short pull; and an echo of the time of the "Great Terror," when Bonaparte threatened invasion. At that time the country was flooded with patriotic songs and ballads.
"Jean Francais" was pronounced with a rough French accent to rhyme with the "ah" of the first line (John Fran-swor). (2) Joanna C. Colcord, Songs of American Sailormen (1938; Oak, 1964, p. 37):1. Boney was a warrior,
(Away ay-yah!)
A warrior and a tarrier,
(John Franswor!)
4. Boney went to Elbow,
Boney he came back again.
6. Then they took him off again
Aboard the Billy Ruffian.
9. Drive her, captain, drive her,
And bust the chafing leather.
At the last syllable of each chorus, all ahnds gave a mighty pull, and "brought her home." There were endless variations of this old favorite; and as historical accuracy never troubled the sailor, we have one version in which Boney crosses the Rocky Mountains, and another in which he is sent to St. Helena "all on account of a woman!"
"Elbow" is easily recognized as Elba, but the reader may not so readily identify H.M.S. Bellerophon! Sailor pronunciations of other words in this song were "t'gan'ls'ls" [topgallantsails] and "Saint A-leé-na" [St. Helena]. The last verse, which was seldom reached, amounted to a gentle hint to the offices that the sail had been "swayed up" far enough.
The French version of this shanty began:
C'est Jean-François de Nantes,
Oué! oué! oué!
Gabier de la "Fringante,"
Oh! mes boués!
Jean-François.
Hayet [Armand Hayet, Chansons de Bord, 1927] claims this version as the source from which the English borrowed 'Boney." If so, what is "O mes boués!" doing in a French original? I am convinced that the borrowing was the other way about. (3) William Doerflinger, Shantymen & Shantyboys (Macmillan, 1951, pp. 5-6):Sung by both American and British sailormen until the present century was a shanty celebrating the exploits of Napoleon and his adversaries. "On British ships," said Dick Maitland, "this was usually sung in sort of a jeering tone--as you know, the British and the French never did get on well together!"
1. Boney was a warrior,
(Way-ay-yah,)
A reg'lar bull and tarrier,
(John François!)
Edited By masato sakurai - 22/03/2003 03:03:19
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Watson
| Posted - 23 Mar 03 - 05:42 pm
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...another one fondly remembered from Singing Together!
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