Steady as She Goes: Songs and Chanties from the Days of Commercial Sail

Louis Killen, Jeff Warner, Gerret Warner, Fud Benson

Not confined to land, Collector Records’ series on industrial folklore and folksong includes Steady as She Goes, an album dedicated to workers on the sea. During a time when a captain’s reign could be tyrannical, the work tough, and the sea unkind, the men maintained that "a song is as good as ten men." Often used in the manner of a work song in the fields, these shanties tell the tales of loneliness, families left behind, and the daily hardships of nautical life, but also about raising anchor with certain knowledge that you are heading home.

*Content Advisory: Some items in our collection contain terms that are harmful and reflect a history of racial, ethnic, gender, or sexual discrimination. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings does not condone this language, but also does not censor it because it is necessary to understand our history. In particular, the “n-word” was circulated and popularized through blackface minstrelsy and used by society steeped in white supremacist values, especially during the Jim Crow era, to unjustly describe and identify Black people.

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Track Listing

101	Paddy Lay Back	Jeff Warner	03:34
102	Bold Riley	Louis Killen	01:57
103	Rolling Down to Old Maui	Louis Killen	02:53
104	Jolly Roving Tar	Jeff Warner	02:33
105	Topman and the Afterguard	Louis Killen	02:31
106	Off to Sea Once More	Louis Killen	04:44
107	Strike the Bell	John Benson	02:58
108	Ship in Distress	Jeff Warner	02:11
109	Blow the Man Down	Louis Killen	02:28
110	The Coast of Peru	Louis Killen	02:35
111	All for Me Grog	Jeff Warner	03:03
112	Shallow Brown	Louis Killen	01:58
113	Bring 'Em Down	Louis Killen	01:32
114	Away Rio	John Benson	02:19