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Blow the Man Down

from Shower Chanteys by Chris Maden

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about

“Blow the Man Down” is a halyard chantey. It is one of the best-known chanteys, probably second only to “Drunken Sailor,” and the tune is known to nearly all Americans of a certain age as the theme song to a cartoon.

While the chorus is always the same, there are numerous variations in the verses, telling very different stories. I dithered quite a bit over which version to record; as I said to my backers:

I was a little conflicted about this… although there is one adult word in “Paddy Lay Back,” this one is quite ribald. No dirty words, but a lot of euphemisms: “There on her bed, I cut loose with my sword,” etc. For some reason, the other version of this song, which involves severely beating a policeman, is considered family-friendly.

… for more notes, see music.maden.org/index.php?title=Blow_the_Man_Down

credits

from Shower Chanteys, released October 1, 2018

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Chris Maden Raymond, New Hampshire

Singer of traditional songs and other stuff.

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