Greenland Fishery (Stefan Karpiniec)

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• (Posted 2003-06-12)  CPDL #05263: 

Editor: Stefan Karpiniec (submitted 2003-06-12).   Score information: A4, 13 pages, 405 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes: Traditional folksong arranged by Stefan Karpiniec

General Information

Title: Greenland Fishery
Composer: Stefan Karpiniec

Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Folksong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published:
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

'Twas eighteen hundred and sixty-one,
On March the eighteenth day,
We hoisted our colors to the top of the mast,
And from England bore away, brave boys,
And from England bore a-way.

Our captain stood on the quarterdeck,
With a spyglass in his hand,
"It's a whale, and a whale, and a whalefish," cried he,
Where she blows at every span, brave boys,
where she blows at every span.

Then the boats were launched and the men on board,
With the whalefish well in view,
And well-prepared were all our jolly shipmates
For to strike where the whalefish blew, brave boys,
For to strike where the whalefish blew.

Then the whale was struck and the line played out,
But he gave such a flourish with his tail,
He capsized our boat, and we lost five men,
And we never did catch that whale, brave boys,
And we never did catch that whale.

Well, then, the loss of that whalefish,
It grieved our hearts full sore,
But oh! The loss of our five shipmates,
That grieved us ten times more, brave boys,
That grieved us ten times more.

"Up anchor, up anchor," our captain cried,
"Let us leave this cold country,
Where the storm and the snow and the whalefish do blow,
And the daylight's seldom seen, brave boys,
And the daylight's seldom seen.”