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> Peter Bellamy > Songs > A Hundred Years Ago
> Louis Killen > Songs > A Hundred Years Ago

A Hundred Years Ago

[ Roud 926 ; Ballad Index San485 ; trad.]

A.L. Lloyd sang the halyard shanty A Hundred Years Ago on his and Ewan MacColl's albums The Black Ball Line, Haul on the Bowlin' and A Hundred Years Ago. This track was included in the Topic Sampler No 7, Sea Songs and Shanties and on the CD Sailors' Songs & Sea Shanties. A Hundred Years Ago was also sung by A.L. Lloyd in another recording from 1960 on his and Ewan MacColl's album Blow Boys Blow.

Lloyd commented in the Haul on the Bowlin' sleeve notes:

English and American folklorists fail to agree whether this shanty was first made under the Stars and Stripes or the Red Ensign. It has close associations with the Baltimore clippers, yet John Masefield heard it on British ships in his seafaring days, and the singer who gave it to Cecil Sharp knew it as an English sailors' song. It may be a seaman's remake of the mid-nineteenth century minstrel song called A Long Time Ago. Whatever it is, it made a good nostalgic-sounding shanty for the long pulls on the halyard.

A.L. Lloyd also sang this shanty on the B-side of the musical score from the film Whaler Out of New Bedford.

Peter Bellamy and Louis Killen sang the three shanties Won't You Go My Way?, A Hundred Years Ago, and The Alabama on June 22, 1971 live at the Folk Studio, Norwich, with the audience cheerfully joining in on the chorus. This concert was published on their LP Won't You Go My Way?.

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings A Hundred Years Ago on The Black Ball Line	A.L. Lloyd sings A Hundred Years Ago on Blow Boys Blow
A hundred years on the eastern shore, Oh, yes, oh! A hundred years on the eastern shore, A hundred years ago	A hundred years on the eastern shore, Oh, yes, oh! A hundred years on the eastern shore, A hundred years ago
Oh, when I sailed across the sea, My girl said she'd be true to me.	Oh, when I sailed across the sea, My girl said she'd be true to me.
I promised her a golden ring, She promised me that little thing.	I promised her a golden ring, She promised me that little thing.
Oh, Bully John was the boy for me, A buckle at land and a bully at sea.
It's up aloft this yard must go, For mister mate has told us so.	Oh, up aloft this yard must go, For mister mate has told us so.
I thought I heard the skipper say, Just one more pull and then belay.	I thought I heard the old man say, That we was homeward bound today.

A.L. Lloyd sings A Hundred Years Ago onWhaler Out of New Bedford	Louis Killen (lead) and Peter Bellamy sing A Hundred Years Ago
A hundred years on the eastern shore, Oh, yes, oh! A hundred years on the eastern shore, A hundred years ago	A hundred years on the eastern shore Oh, yes, oh! A hundred years on the eastern shore A hundred years ago
Oh, when I sailed across the sea, My girl said she'd be true to me.	Oh, when I sailed away to sea My girl she said she'd be true to me
I promised her a golden ring, She promised me that little thing.	Oh, I promised her a golden ring And she promised me that little thing
I wish to God I'd never been born, To go rambling round and round Cape Horn
Around Cape Stiff where the wild winds blow, Around Cape Stiff through sleet and snow.
Around Cape Horn with frozen sails, Around Cape Horn to fish for whales.
Oh, Bully John from Baltimore, I knew him well on the eastern shore.
Oh, Bully John was the boy for me, A bucko on land and a bully at sea.	Now it's Bully John is the boy for me He's a buckle on land and a bully at sea
Oh, Bully John, I knew him well, But now he's dead and gone to hell.
	Now it's up aloft this yard must go Oh it's mister mate has told us so
	I thought I hear the skipper say Just one more pull and then belay

Acknowledgements

Transcribed by Reinhard Zierke except for the lyrics of the Whaler Out of New Bedford version which were copied from the album's sleeve notes.