Welcome to The Songs of the Sea. This is part of Lesley Nelson's Folk Music of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales & America website. This page contains only a small portion of the tunes from that site. I put these on a separate page for visitors to have easier access to them, to organize them better and because of my interest in the sea (my father and grandfather were U.S. Naval Captains).

If you wish to use any of these tunes in an archive or on a webpage READ THIS.

Sea Shanties and Songs of the Sea

While sea shanties originated on ships of many different countries, they spread throughout the seas. Shanties were used for the hard work aboard ships and sentiments in them were universal. They were not originally in the musical form we find them today, but chanted - with the chanter calling out words and the men calling out the chorus in rhythm to their work. For information about sea shanties click here.



Shanties: Songs of Work on the Sea

• A Hundred Years Ago
• Aweigh, Santy Ano
• The Black Ball Line
• Blow the Man Down
• Blow Boys, Blow!
• Boney Was a Warrior
• The Coasts of High Barbary
• The Dead Horse
• The Dreadnought
• Drunken Sailor
• Eliza Lee
• Fire Down Below
• The Fish of the Sea
• The Golden Vanity
• Hanging Johnny
• Haul Away, Joe! (1)
• Haul Away, Joe! (2)
• Holy Ground Once More
• Homeward Bound
• The Lass of Swansea Town
• Leave Her, Johnny
• Maid of Amsterdam
• New York Girls (1)
• New York Girls (2)
• Old Swansea Town Once More
• On Board the Kangaroo
• One More Day
• The Ox-Eyed Man
• Paddy Doyle's Boots
• Paddy, Get Back
• Paddy West
• Reuben Ranzo
• The Rio Grande
• Rolling Home
• The Sailor's Loves
• Sally Brown
• The Saucy Sailor Boy
• Shenandoah
• Storm Along
• We'll Rant and We'll Roar
• We're All Bound to Go
• Whisky Johnnie
• Won't You Go My Way?
• Yankee Whalermen

Tales of the Sea, Sailors, Ships and Watermen

• Admiral Benbow
• Andrew Bartin
• The Arethusa
• The Bay of Biscay
• The Bay of Biscay, O!
• Ben Backstay (1)
• Ben Backstay (2)
• Bold Nelson's Praise
• The Bold Princess Royal
• The Bonny Ship The Diamond
• Captain Kidd
• Chesapeake and Shannon
• The Constitution and the Guerriere
• The Glasgow
• Heart of Oak
• Henry Martin
• The Isle of France
• It's of a Sailor Bold
• Johnny Todd
• The Jolly Young Waterman
• Come, Loose Every Sail to the Breeze
• Lord Franklin
• The Low, Low Lands of Holland
• Married to a Mermaid
• The Mermaid
• On Board a Ninety-Eight
• Paul Jones
• The Pirate Song
• Quare Bungle Rye
• The Rambling Sailor
• Rhyme of the Chivalrous Shark
• Sir Patrick Spence
• Sir Peter Parker
• The Tarpaulin Jacket
• Then Farewell, My Tridonotuse-Built Wherry
• Three Fishers
• Toll For the Brave
• Tom Bowling
• Tom Tough
• Ward the Pirate
• We Be Three Poor Mariners
• A Wet Sheet and A Flowing Sea
• Will Watch
• The Yankee Man-of-War
• Young Edwin in the Lowlands Low

Other Songs that Went to Sea

• Abdul Abulbul Amir
• Ballad of Ivan Petrofsky Skevar
• The Crocodile Song
• Dance to your Daddy
• Poor Old Horse
• The Sheffield Apprentice
• Shennandoah
• Van Diemen's Land

Liquor and the Sea and the Sailor's Life

• Can of Grog
• Here's to the Grog
• Eight Bells
• Farewell to Grog
• Sling the Flowing Bowl
• Nelson's Blood
• Rolling Down to Old Maui
• Rolling Down to Old Mohee

Women, Sentinment and Sadness at Sea

• Billy Taylor
• Black-Eyed Susan
• Blow the Wind Southerly
• A Brisk Young Sailor
• Britons, Strike Home
• Come, Loose Every Sail to the Breeze
• The Drowned Lover
• The Dying Californian
• The Fair Sailor Lad
• Fair Susan
• Farewell to Nova Scotia
• The Female Smuggler
• Heavy the Beat of the Weary Waves
• House Carpenter (English Version)
• House Carpenter (Canadian Version)
• I Must Live All Alone
• Jackaroe
• The Keeper of the Eddystone Light
• The Lass That Loves A Sailor
• The Little Lowland Maid
• Lovely Molly
• Mary's Dream
• Miss Bailey's Ghost
• Nancy Lee
• The Nightingale
• Our Ship She Lies in Harbour
• Poor Sally Sits A-Weeping
• The Pretty Ploughboy
• The Saucy Sailor Boy
• Tarry Trousers
• The Token
• The Valiant Lady
• White Wings
• William and Mary
• William Taylor

Other Songs Related to the Sea and Life on the Water

• Anchors Aweigh!
• Botany Bay (1)
• Botany Bay (2)

History Relating to the Sea

• The Contemplator's Short History of Grog
• The Contemplator's Short History of the Anglo-Dutch Wars
• The Contemplator's Short Biography of Charles Dibdin