The Leaving of Liverpool
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- Опубликовано: 2 май 2009
- While this song, a sailor's forebitter (non-work song) has become something of a nostalgic ode to the city of Liverpool, the words make it clear that although the sailor is leaving Liverpool, "it's NOT the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me, but, my darling, when I think on you" -- the song is for the beloved.
Although the song is well-known nowadays, it gained this glory only through the Folk Revival. Really, there is only one known source for it. Dick Maitland, an American sailor of Staten Island, NY, sang it as he had learned it in the 1880s, for the writer William Doerflinger, who subsequently printed it in his 1951 chanteys collection. From that text, certain popular artists like the Spinners, the Dubliners, and the Clancy Brothers adopted it. In the process, the lyrics were smoothed out to make everything rhyme nicely-- most noticeably the "think on you" was changed to "think of thee." The melody changed a bit. Most noticeable in this regard was the general change, in all instances of the pitch pattern DO TI SOL to DO LA SOL. Indeed, with this sort of popular version so ingrained, I experienced some dissonance in my head while trying to bang out this, the "original" version of Maitland; inevitably there are lapses and variations.
A nice statement about the trajectory of this song can be found in the comments by singer-scholar Dan Milner in this post:
www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?thre...
The streets mentioned are just in from the Salthouse Dock, the center of the old Sailortown, and the landing stage near Princes Dock was a place of departure for Yankee packet ship, on board of which the speaker would have been working (bound for NY, then Frisco).
Beautifully sung with the spirit of Liverpool in mind. Did they tell you that during the war they caught a spy broadcasting shipping movements, from a small room in the top of the Liver Building?
It was taken down by chantey-collector Bill Doerflinger from Dick Maitland, a New Yorker, in Sailor's Snug Harbor, Staten Island. I can't speak to your dear grandma's experiences, but 1955 post-dates the publication of Doerfinger's text, and the adoption of the song by folk revival groups, based on that text.
No worries.
@cd1690 Hi. As you can see from the quotation marks, I am quoting someone, who subsequently deleted his comment. --who started an argument and then ran away. I didn't say The Spinners were Irish.
First comment from "The Shamtube";
"sorry, not the same in a american accent."
Not the same as what? If you read the description, you'll know that the world knows of this song solely due to the singing of an American sailor, Dick Maitland of Staten Island (NY). It is from his version that subsequent ones were derived. I'd venture to guess that my New York area accent is closer to his -- as if that mattered.
Although nothing is ever really "the same"; should it be?
Notice the quotation marks. :) The person who wrote it (who was being very insulting) ran off and deleted his posts, but I saved them!
The song has nothing to do with Ireland, its is purely Liverpool. The Spinners were a semi-Liverpool folk group, based in Liverpool.
cont...
Your date of 1955 --when you were about 5 yrs old -- still post-dates its appearance in print, and possibly revival singers had started with it then. Ewan MacColl and Bert Lloyd drew heavily from Doerflinger's text. It is entirely possible that dear gram had heard it, but your "story" here, which you've spammed on many of the videos with this song, sounds shady because of the way you've distorted other info.
@hultonclint The Spinners IRISH??!!! Sober up!......... One of them came from the West Indies f'Christs sake!!! Another one from manchester and the rest were scousers!!!
What has your Beatles quip got to do with the price of tea in China? You'd make a better cae that maybe your gram heard this if you didnt embellish the facts. Maitland was bosun of the American ship GENERAL KNOX, circa 1885. He heard a Scouser singing it in the focsle. It won't do for you to pluralize "Scousers" and "was being sung by several natives of that city" and declare it an emigrant ship. You're making up a fantasy. cont...