Randy Dandy O Schröder - Inspired Choir

I caved. I programed a sea shanty. Randy Dandy O. Why have I been holding back? Well, in general, sea shanties are about drinking or girls or contain words and images I don’t love so much.

Why did I cave? My students specifically asked for a sea shanty. Luckily, I was able to find Martin Schröder’s arrangement of Randy Dandy O, a sea shanty that contains all of the positives of the genre (upbeat, rollicking, fun, energetic) with only one of the negatives (some maybe dicey language that we will problematize together).

When I handed out Randy Dandy O, there were literal cheers from the group. How often does that happen in choir? One of the singers informed me that sea shanties are their literal favorite genre of choral music. How could I deny them the pleasure of singing this music?

Take a listen to The Longest John’s performance of Randy Dandy O, then dig into this post, in which I discuss the following:

All about the genre of the sea shanty
How to make sense of Randy Dandy O
Video Games and Choral Music
Contemporary Sea Shanty Singers
Randy Dandy O Teacher Resources
…and so much more!

Roll an’ go! with Randy Dandy O

There is so much to like about a good sea shanty: the rollicking rhythms, the energizing phrases, the pleasing harmonies, the way singers just buy in immediately. Through Randy Dandy O, our tenor/bass ensemble is interacting with 6/4 meter, dotted rhythms, four- (and for 2 measures six-) part harmonies, and a bit of showmanship right away this semester. Additionally, this piece will allow us to dig into the folk nature of sea shanties, the lyrics and story behind Randy Dandy O, video game music, and contemporary shanty ensembles.

All About Sea Shanties

The term “shanty” turned up in the 1850s as a descriptor of work songs sung on ships and boats when working. Early descriptors of “chanty-men” or shanties come from the log book of the whale ship Atkins Adams in 1858-1859. Back then, they would not have been called “sea” shanties because at the time, all shanties were sung on the sea.

Before shanties, sailors would chant to help time their work. This was called “singing out” or “yo-hoing.” Often times sailors had to perform two jobs at a time, like hauling a rope and pulling a lever at the same time. So a shanty could help to coordinate these movements. Shanties were mostly sung on commercial cargo vessels. Considered poor for discipline, you would never find shanties sung on naval ships.

Etymology

The word “shanty” has two possible origin stories. The first theory is that it was originally spelled “chanty,” coming from the French word “chanter” which means “to sing.” The second is that loggers or lumberjacks (who lived in lodgings called shanties) taught sailors the songs, thus they were dubbed shanty-songs.

Some shanties came from sea to shore and others came from shore to sea. Some shanties have roots in African American work songs and spirituals, while others call back to vaudeville or British songs and ballads.

Types of Shanty

There are several kinds of sea shanty, classified based on the task workers were attempting while singing the shanty:

Hauling shanties were used for pulling on ropes and required bursts of strength
Heaving shanties were used for working pumps, capstans, or windlasses and had to be sustained for a long time
Stamp-and-go or walk-away shanties were used for tacking the ship or scraping barnacles off the ship.

For more information on sea shanties, check out this deep dive from the Library of Congress’s Folklife Today blog.

Making Sense of Randy Dandy O

Randy Dandy O is an example of a capstan or pump shanty. Sailors would have sung this tune while working for long periods of time – and were likely not too happy with their ship officers (hence the teasing I talk about in a minute).

A little bit of knowledge of 18th and 19th century slang goes a long way in understanding the words of Randy Dandy O. Below are a few key terms from the text of this piece:

“Now we are ready to sail for the Horn”: Refers to Cape Horn, located at the southernmost tip of Chile. Cape Horn was a part of the clipper routes that carried much of the world’s trade in the 18th to 20th centuries.
“Our boots and our clothes boys are all in the pawn“: We can interpret this one of two ways. One, some report the pawn is the shelving sailors would keep their possessions in while on the ship; two, after a long time on shore, sailors would take their possessions to a pawn shop to get money before heading out to sea.
“Heave a pawl oh heave away”: A pawl is a short bar of iron on the capstan, which is a rotating machine that helped sailor haul ropes, cables, or chains. It makes sense then that the next line of text refers to the “cables all stored.”
“Heave away ye parish-rigged bums”: To be parish-rigged means to be poorly equipped. So either the captain of the ship was not great and therefore the crew is parish-rigged, or the sailor in question came on board with nothing but the clothes on their back, and therefore was parish-rigged.
“We’re outward bound for Valippo Bay“: Vallippo Bay was a nick-name for the bay in Valparaìso, Chile. This was a common stop for ships as they voyaged around Cape Horn.
“Rollicking Randy Dandy O”: “Rollicking” may be a stand in word for “bollicking,” a not-so-nice slang word for “a stern scolding.” “Randy Dandy” is likely mocking naval officers in their uniform dress. This line is repeated often, and serves as a mockery of the ship officers’ authority. “Randy Dandy O” is a common phrase in many shanties.

Take a read through the lyrics of the piece here and see if you have a full understanding of the piece!

Video Game Choral Music?

Many avid video gamers will tell you that the soundtrack in video games can make or break the user experience. Video game music can set the scene, heighten emotion, pull players into the story, or get a gamer in the zone.

Video Game Music

Often times a piece of music is featured in a specific setting or place in the game, or can be associated with specific characters. For example, in Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, the characters sing sea shanties when steering the ship around the map. (See what it looks like in the game here.)

Notice in the video game version that there is not polyphony like in the choral version. Game music is sometimes restricted by system limitations, for example the Nintendo Entertainment System could only play three notes simultaneously. You’ll also notice quite a bit of repetition in game music as much of it is designed to repeat indefinitely within the game.

Choral Music in Video Games

Choral music is featured in many video games. (GameFAQs named their top ten choral pieces in video games here – see if you agree!). Choirs often add an etherial, dramatic, or ominous tone to certain scenes.

If you are enjoying the video game and choir relationship, here are a few other choral arrangements of video game music:

One of my favorite pieces to sing and work on with SATB ensembles is Christopher Tin’s Baba Yetu from Civilization IV. Step it up by performing it unaccompanied and allowing your singers to create their own accompaniment throughout.
The Light We Cast by Jessica Curry includes three of the English soundtrack composer’s works from various video games for SATB ensembles, including Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and The Durham Hymns.
Want to have the Tetris theme stuck in your head for months? Check out Constantine Shvedoff’s arrangement of Korobushka.

Sea Shanty-ers of Today

We have seen an uptick in the popularity of Sea Shanty singers in the past few years, and the social media app TikTok may have something to do with this trend. In 2021, Scottish singer Nathan Evans posted a video of himself singing “The Wellerman” and TikTok users ate it up, watching the video millions of times and creating their own versions or duetting the original. They even created a new genre within the app called #ShantyTok.

Long before Evans posted his first video, choral groups began forming around their love of singing sea shanties. Below are some popular sea-shanty singing groups:

Die Blowboys: A German folk group, the choir describes themselves as “the young shanty choir from Rostock.”
The Longest Johns: A British folk group known for performing sea shanties. They became popular around the TikTok “Wellerman” craze.
Storm Weather Shanty Choir: A Norwegian group that performs traditional English and Norwegian sea shanties, the group has been performing together since 2000. They introduce themselves as “the roughest, toughest, and youngest boy band in Norway, singing 150 years old cover songs.”

Complementary Pieces

Want to listen to other pieces like Randy Dandy O? Or planning a concert and need some programming ideas? Here are a few complementary pieces!

Enjoying the Sea Shanty style?

Why let the bass choirs have all the fun? Involve all voices in Mike O’Mara’s SSAATB arrangement of Leave Her Johnny.
A nice introduction to sea shanties minus the sometimes questionable texts, Home to Oyster Bay by Thomas Elias Sugar for two-part is a great teaching piece for elementary singing groups.
Why not take a look at the piece that re-invigorated Sea Shanties on an international scale via TikTok in 2021?: The Wellerman arr. Michael Ware

Here are a few of the other folk “roots” themed pieces I’m pairing with Randy Dandy O this concert cycle:

I’d Love to Hear from You!

Have you sung or conducted Randy Dandy O with your choir? How did you interpret the text? Did you problematize and discuss with your ensemble? What historical connections did you draw? Do you have any other favorite sea shanties? Let me know in the comments below!

Randy Dandy O Teacher Resources

Free Comprehension Worksheets

Choir Leaders! I have begun to include short comprehension worksheets with each Inspired Choir blog post. Each worksheet includes 5-6 knowledge-based questions about the post and concludes with a musical decisions/applications question. Use as a homework assignment, sub activity, listening challenge, or guide for conversation in class. Fill in the form below to receive a link immediately to all “Roots” Worksheets.

Randy Dandy O Lesson Plan Bundle

Check out the Inspired Choir Shop for the Randy Dandy O Lesson Plan Bundle. This bundle includes the following five minute lesson plans, all with connections to National Standards and SEL Competencies:

Randy Dandy O Listening Bell Ringer
6/4 Rhythms Flashcards
Sea Shanty “Translation” Exercise
Songs of the Sea Group Project
History of Shanties Lesson

An Introduction to Sea Shanties with Martin Schröder’s arrangement of Randy Dandy O