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In South Australia I was born,
Heave her up
Let’s heave her high.
– Heave ‘er Up and Bust Her
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“If you came to the end of the shanty before you came to the end of the job, a good shanty man would improvise to carry on the song, perhaps singing about the cook or first mate.”
He said the whole point was to give part of your brain something else to think about while performing laborious tasks.
Bell said he believes the present-day appeal of the shanty is its simplicity.
“They are great for singing harmony, but not like barbershop where it’s close and complex,” he said. “You can pick it up and find a part for yourself pretty easily. They were meant to be learned instantly, and still work that way.”
Bell said that shanties on the Tik Tok social media platform have become popular because people will record one, and then others will layer their parts on top of them.
“It’s totally brilliant because that’s the way they existed in the first place,” he said.
The mariners’ songs travelled far and wide with sailors in the mid-1800s.
“They were the most mobile people in the world,” Bell noted. “Clipper ships went all over the world, taking goods and people. Sailors would ship on and off at different ports, so the ship was a multi-cultural workplace.”
Bell grew up in Waterford and spent a lot of time in Port Dover, where he developed a fondness for the history and traditional songs of the Great Lakes.
He said said the marine aspect of the Port Dover museum, where he served as curator from 2001 to 2013, was a big appeal. He also has worked at other museums and freelanced at several as a musician specializing in historical music.
Bell recorded an entire CD of Great Lakes songs and shanties that’s available on the Bandcamp website but he has resisted the temptation to go on Tik Tok.
“There’s enough people doing it,” he said.
“I’m an old guy. It’s all I can do to keep up on Facebook.”
