Jack Tar

lisper · on April 22, 2020

I first encountered Jack Tar in 1982 when I heard Maddy Prior sing "Saucy Sailor". Still one of my favorite songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgSwnL4au64

(or the canonical version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxXhA88ru0A)

mirimir · on April 22, 2020

That's still one of my favorites :)

I loved everything on "Below the Salt", really.

But long before then, I loved "The Incredible String Band". And still do, along with the "Butthole Surfers" ;) And ...

Edit: I know that's a strange jump. But consider BS's "The Wooden Song":

   Take me, break me
   Tell me a good one and maybe I'll cry
   Go with me, show me
   Tell me a good one and maybe I'll die
   Lately I've been dancing in ceiling fans
   Into the kitchen and out the back gate
   Well I know it sounds strange but it could be the other way
   Round to the ground where I know I must stay

That's not far from ICB's "A Very Cellular Song", really.

Animats · on April 22, 2020

There's "Two years before the mast", by Richard Dana, a sailor who visited San Francisco Bay years before the Gold Rush.