Author Topic: Add: Ranzo


dmcg

Posted - 10 Dec 02 - 01:59 pm

Ranzo [Reuben Ranzo]

Oooh! Poor ol' Reuben Ranzo,
(Chorus: Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!)
Oooh! Poor ol' Reuben Ranzo,
(Chorus: Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!)

O Ranzo wuz no sailor,
He wuz a New York tailor.

Though Ranzo wuz no sailor,
He shipped aboard a whaler.

Ranzo couldn't steer 'er,
Did ye ever hear anything queerer.

The mate he wuz a dandy,
Far too fond of brandy.

They put him holystonin',
And cared not for his groanin'.

They said he wuz a lubber,
And made him eat whale-blubber.

He washed once in a fortnight,
He said it was his birthright.

They took him to the gangway,
An' gave him lashin's twenty.

They gave him lashes thirty,
Because he wuz so dirty.

The Capten gave him thirty,
His daughter begged for mercy.

She gave him cake an' water,
AN' a bit more than she outer.

She taught him navigation,
An' gave him eddication.

Ranzo is now a skipper,
Of a Yankee whaler.

He married the Ol' Man's daughter,
An' still sails on blue water.

He's knwon wherever them whalefish blow,
As the toughest bastard on the go.




Source: Hugill, Stan, (1969), Shanties and Sailors Songs, London, Herbert Jenkins

Database entry is here




masato sakurai

Posted - 05 Feb 03 - 05:18 am

From notes to American Sea Songs and Shantiers (I) [LP], edited by Duncan B.M. Emrich (Library of Congress AAFS L26, pp. 7-8):

REUBEN RANZO

[Sung by Noble B. Brown at Woodman, Wisconsin, 1946. Recorded by Helene Stratman-Thomas and Aubrey Snyder on a joint field collecting project for the University of Wisconsin and the Library of Congress.]

Unverified tradition has it that Reuben Ranzo was a Boston tailor who was shanghaied aboard a whaling vessel, and subjected, as the song states, to the hardships and indignities of life at sea on a long voyage. Other variants of the halyard shanty are kinder to poor Reuben: the daughter of the skipper intercedes for him, he becomes a good sailor, and marries her. References: Doerflinger, p. 23; Colcord, p. 70.
* * *

Poor old Reuben Ranzo,
Ranzo, boy, Ranzo,
Poor old Reuben Ranzo,
Ranzo, boy, Ranzo.

He shipped aboard a whaler,
Ranzo, boy, Ranzo,
But Ranzo was no sailor,
Ranzo, boy, Ranzo.

He could not do his duty,
For neither love nor beauty.

He could not find his sea legs,
Used clumsy, awkward land pegs.

He could not coil a line right,
Did not know end from rope's bight.

Could not splice the main brace,
He was a seasick soft case.

He could not box the compass,
The skipper raised a rumpus.

The old man was a bully,
At sea was wild and woolly.

Abused poor Reuben plenty,
He scourged him five and twenty.

He lashed him to the mainmast,
The poor seafaring outcast.

Poor Reuben cried and pleaded,
But he was left unheeded.

Some vessels are hard cases,
Keep sailors in strict places.

Do not show any mercy,
For Reuben, James, nor Percy.

The ocean is exacting,
Is often cruel acting.

A sailor never whimpers,
Ranzo, boy, Ranzo,
Though shanghaied by shore crimpers,
Ranzo, boy, Ranzo.

"I learned that aboard a sailing ship on a voyage from San Francisco to Falmouth, England."




Edited By masato sakurai - 05/02/2003 12:26:11






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