“Blow Boys, Blow”
Putting Noble Brown & Jelly Roll Morton in the studio together
was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do when I set out to make this album.
I couldn’t think of two musicians who came from such
seemingly opposite points-of-view than
Noble Brown – a northern woodsman singing a sea shanty -
and Jelly Roll Morton, the foremost ‘piano professor’ of New Orleans.
“Blow, Boys, Blow” is a halyard shanty, a song used for hoisting the yards.
American in origin, it dates back to just after the War of 1812.
Noble B. Brown worked in logging camps in the Upper Midwest
and the Northwest from the time he was 14.
He was restless, constantly moving from place to place.
Jelly Roll Morton, by his own account, created jazz.
Why not leave it at that?
Source Recordings:
“Blow, Boys, Blow” Noble Brown
recorded by Helene Stratman-Thomas & Aubrey Snyder in Woodman, WS – Nov. 17, 1946
“Hesitating Blues” Jelly Roll Morton
recorded by Alan Lomax in Washington, D.C., – 1938 *
You can find Noble Brown’s recordings on two Rounder LPs:
American Sea Songs and Shanties I & II.
Musicians
Alan Berliant – bass
Andy Baker – trombone
Richie Davis – electric guitar
Orbert Davis – trumpet & muted trumpet
Kat Eggleston – hammer dulcimer
Jim Gailloreto – saxes & clarinet
Larry Glazier – cello
Pete LaBella – violin
Curt Morrison – electric guitar
Steve Mullen – piano, organ, synth & drum programming
Joel Patterson – national steel guitar
John Rice – acoustic slide guitar, godin, lap steel
Rob Stone – harmonica
Jeff Thomas – drums & percussion
Group Vocals
Joan Collaso
Yvonne Gage
Robin Robinson
Noble Brown – lead vocal (harmonies created by Steve Mullen)
Jelly Roll Morton – stride piano
* “Hesitating Blues” performed by Jelly Roll Morton under license from The Eysaman Family Trust and The Henry Ford Testamentary Trust.
“Blow Boys, Blow”
(lyrics)
A Yankee ship came down the river
blow boys, blow
A Yankee ship came down the river
Blow boys, bonnie boy, blow
And how do you know she’s a Yankee clipper?
Blow boys, blow
Oh, how do you know she’s a Yankee clipper?
Blow boys, bonnie boy, blow
The stars and bars, they flew behind her
Blow boys, blow
The stars and bars, they flew behind her
Blow boys, bonnie boy, blow
Oh, blow us out, & blow us homeward
Blow boys, blow
Oh, blow today & blow tomorrow
Blow boys, bonnie boy, blow
We’ll blow ashore and blow our payday
Blow boys, blow
Then blow aboard & blow away
Blow boys!
We’ll blow until our blow is over
Blow boys, blow
From Singapore to cliffs of Dover
Blow boys, bonnie boy, blow
