DramaQueen
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Status Replies posted by DramaQueen
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hey queen
are you gonna join the roleplay that's gonna start next week?
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Not planning on it.
I'm getting my wisdom teeth out on Tuesday, and then I head back up to college on Saturday.
Plus I have no idea what it is, and I haven't really RPed on here in a long time. There's a lot going on, and I just don't really have the time, and if I tried to make time, I'd either fail to be active enough on here or I'd fail to be active enough IRL.
Just not really worth it for me right now.
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Do they count as twins if two married women are artificially insemenated and give birth at the same time or is that a legal gray area we need to exploit
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Punzie dress update!!!!
Spoiler
The skirt now just needs a hem, lace trim, and e m b e l l i s h m e n t s.
Gonna save the embellishments for...basically the last thing I do on the dress at all, since it's the thing that'll be easiest to do up at college if I don't totally finish in time. My sewing machine is technically my mom's sewing machine, so I can't really take it with me, unfortunately. Which means I need to get allllll the sewing done before August 26th, ideally. The dress was the easiest, technical-wise, but I thiiink it was also the most tedious thing? Hopefully? Hopefully the top will be faster. The sleeves scare me, because the skirt and shirt stuff are all things I've pretty much done before, whereas the sleeves...not so much.
Wish me luck!
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My picrew pfps have all had a bit of purple in their hair since then, so that should've been a bit of a clue lol
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Punzie dress update!!!!
Spoiler
The skirt now just needs a hem, lace trim, and e m b e l l i s h m e n t s.
Gonna save the embellishments for...basically the last thing I do on the dress at all, since it's the thing that'll be easiest to do up at college if I don't totally finish in time. My sewing machine is technically my mom's sewing machine, so I can't really take it with me, unfortunately. Which means I need to get allllll the sewing done before August 26th, ideally. The dress was the easiest, technical-wise, but I thiiink it was also the most tedious thing? Hopefully? Hopefully the top will be faster. The sleeves scare me, because the skirt and shirt stuff are all things I've pretty much done before, whereas the sleeves...not so much.
Wish me luck!
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It's (currently very light) purple
And since February, it was a lot more vivid and a lot more of an electric purple when I first dyed it.
Here's a Petri picture with my hair soon after I dyed it.
Spoiler
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Punzie dress update!!!!
Spoiler
The skirt now just needs a hem, lace trim, and e m b e l l i s h m e n t s.
Gonna save the embellishments for...basically the last thing I do on the dress at all, since it's the thing that'll be easiest to do up at college if I don't totally finish in time. My sewing machine is technically my mom's sewing machine, so I can't really take it with me, unfortunately. Which means I need to get allllll the sewing done before August 26th, ideally. The dress was the easiest, technical-wise, but I thiiink it was also the most tedious thing? Hopefully? Hopefully the top will be faster. The sleeves scare me, because the skirt and shirt stuff are all things I've pretty much done before, whereas the sleeves...not so much.
Wish me luck!
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Annnnnyways, it is 2am in my timezone and I have work at 9am, which means it is in fact past time to sleep. May you all have the fabulousest of days.
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Punzie dress update!!!!
Spoiler
The skirt now just needs a hem, lace trim, and e m b e l l i s h m e n t s.
Gonna save the embellishments for...basically the last thing I do on the dress at all, since it's the thing that'll be easiest to do up at college if I don't totally finish in time. My sewing machine is technically my mom's sewing machine, so I can't really take it with me, unfortunately. Which means I need to get allllll the sewing done before August 26th, ideally. The dress was the easiest, technical-wise, but I thiiink it was also the most tedious thing? Hopefully? Hopefully the top will be faster. The sleeves scare me, because the skirt and shirt stuff are all things I've pretty much done before, whereas the sleeves...not so much.
Wish me luck!
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My hair looks gross in that picture I swear it's not gross irl
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Punzie dress update!!!!
Spoiler
The skirt now just needs a hem, lace trim, and e m b e l l i s h m e n t s.
Gonna save the embellishments for...basically the last thing I do on the dress at all, since it's the thing that'll be easiest to do up at college if I don't totally finish in time. My sewing machine is technically my mom's sewing machine, so I can't really take it with me, unfortunately. Which means I need to get allllll the sewing done before August 26th, ideally. The dress was the easiest, technical-wise, but I thiiink it was also the most tedious thing? Hopefully? Hopefully the top will be faster. The sleeves scare me, because the skirt and shirt stuff are all things I've pretty much done before, whereas the sleeves...not so much.
Wish me luck!
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I'm also planning on getting green colored contacts for it.
Prescription ones, since I do in fact have impaired vision and would like to be able to see. But still.
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Punzie dress update!!!!
Spoiler
The skirt now just needs a hem, lace trim, and e m b e l l i s h m e n t s.
Gonna save the embellishments for...basically the last thing I do on the dress at all, since it's the thing that'll be easiest to do up at college if I don't totally finish in time. My sewing machine is technically my mom's sewing machine, so I can't really take it with me, unfortunately. Which means I need to get allllll the sewing done before August 26th, ideally. The dress was the easiest, technical-wise, but I thiiink it was also the most tedious thing? Hopefully? Hopefully the top will be faster. The sleeves scare me, because the skirt and shirt stuff are all things I've pretty much done before, whereas the sleeves...not so much.
Wish me luck!
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(I'll be cutting off the purple right before Halloween so I can be short-hair Rapunzel, as seen in this image)
Spoiler
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Punzie dress update!!!!
Spoiler
The skirt now just needs a hem, lace trim, and e m b e l l i s h m e n t s.
Gonna save the embellishments for...basically the last thing I do on the dress at all, since it's the thing that'll be easiest to do up at college if I don't totally finish in time. My sewing machine is technically my mom's sewing machine, so I can't really take it with me, unfortunately. Which means I need to get allllll the sewing done before August 26th, ideally. The dress was the easiest, technical-wise, but I thiiink it was also the most tedious thing? Hopefully? Hopefully the top will be faster. The sleeves scare me, because the skirt and shirt stuff are all things I've pretty much done before, whereas the sleeves...not so much.
Wish me luck!
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hair reveal oooooh-
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- Report
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Punzie dress update!!!!
Spoiler
The skirt now just needs a hem, lace trim, and e m b e l l i s h m e n t s.
Gonna save the embellishments for...basically the last thing I do on the dress at all, since it's the thing that'll be easiest to do up at college if I don't totally finish in time. My sewing machine is technically my mom's sewing machine, so I can't really take it with me, unfortunately. Which means I need to get allllll the sewing done before August 26th, ideally. The dress was the easiest, technical-wise, but I thiiink it was also the most tedious thing? Hopefully? Hopefully the top will be faster. The sleeves scare me, because the skirt and shirt stuff are all things I've pretty much done before, whereas the sleeves...not so much.
Wish me luck!
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And here is the little lizard who shall be my Pascal:
Spoiler
She's a crested gecko, not a chameleon, and her name is Petri, not Pascal, but I think she'll be perfect. :))
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Punzie dress update!!!!
Spoiler
The skirt now just needs a hem, lace trim, and e m b e l l i s h m e n t s.
Gonna save the embellishments for...basically the last thing I do on the dress at all, since it's the thing that'll be easiest to do up at college if I don't totally finish in time. My sewing machine is technically my mom's sewing machine, so I can't really take it with me, unfortunately. Which means I need to get allllll the sewing done before August 26th, ideally. The dress was the easiest, technical-wise, but I thiiink it was also the most tedious thing? Hopefully? Hopefully the top will be faster. The sleeves scare me, because the skirt and shirt stuff are all things I've pretty much done before, whereas the sleeves...not so much.
Wish me luck!
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*skirt, not dress. The skirt was the easiest, technical-wise. Too many clothing words. Not enough proof-reading.
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TOO... MANY... NOTIFS...
anyywayss hi everyone i'm back from camp!!! how are you guys? everybody doing alright?
camp was SO FUN! i was in a musical, a dance performance, and i did tech for a play (sound fx)
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What role did you play?
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TOO... MANY... NOTIFS...
anyywayss hi everyone i'm back from camp!!! how are you guys? everybody doing alright?
camp was SO FUN! i was in a musical, a dance performance, and i did tech for a play (sound fx)
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(there's a Broadway recording of it on Spotify starring Daniel Radcliffe)
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My favorite hymns have got to be:
Praise to the Man
A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief
If You Could Hie to Kolob
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I Stand All Amazed, There Is Sunshine In My Soul, and Have I Done Any Good? are three of my favorites. (Idk if I can say they're my absolute favorites, but they were the first three that came to mind).
Your three are good, too, though.
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TOO... MANY... NOTIFS...
anyywayss hi everyone i'm back from camp!!! how are you guys? everybody doing alright?
camp was SO FUN! i was in a musical, a dance performance, and i did tech for a play (sound fx)
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That sounds awesome!!
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I am having all the blocks.
Art block, writer's block, blocks in my life regarding friendships, hangouts, relationships, productivity levels...
Any advice would be welcomed, tbh.
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I've had a few brief interactions with you on status updates, but that's it, and that's really not something to base an opinion of someone off of, in my opinion.
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I am having all the blocks.
Art block, writer's block, blocks in my life regarding friendships, hangouts, relationships, productivity levels...
Any advice would be welcomed, tbh.
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Dude, I haven't had enough interactions with you to have even formed an opinion of you. I don't not like you, I just don't know you.
What interactions have we had that gave you the idea that I don't like you?
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I am having all the blocks.
Art block, writer's block, blocks in my life regarding friendships, hangouts, relationships, productivity levels...
Any advice would be welcomed, tbh.
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Quote
Wait no I meant overrated augh
No it's not cuz if I'm not responsible, if I don't learn how to take better care of myself and manage my time better, I'll be physically and mentally unhealthy and I won't be successful in the things I want to do.
Quote(I actually thought you blocked me on the shard and I could see why).
...why would I have blocked you?? I don't think I've even interacted with you enough to have a reason to block you.
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I am having all the blocks.
Art block, writer's block, blocks in my life regarding friendships, hangouts, relationships, productivity levels...
Any advice would be welcomed, tbh.
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Tbh the writing is far from the most pressing block atm, I just need to get responsible lol
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I am having all the blocks.
Art block, writer's block, blocks in my life regarding friendships, hangouts, relationships, productivity levels...
Any advice would be welcomed, tbh.
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Quote
here's what you can do, don't restrain yourself to writing what you have to, even if you've been passionate about it. What's something you think is fun and want to write right now? You can write that and that can really free up the space in your brain so that you can start getting into the writing swing again. You could also start looking at prompts and start writing from there, picking one that piques your interest in a fun way. Another thing you could do is find a nice quiet place, listen to music that you want, have a drink that you like, then start writing something that is similar to something that's been on your mind lately, not something stressing unless you want that, but something that you connect to and that can be really fun to write about.
There's literally nothing that I have to be writing; anything I've been writing lately has been something I wrote just for fun. And I've tried the prompts, it worked for a bit but then...meh, stopped working.
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yall sometimes i rly feel like i gotta stop posting here
like i joined this site 6 whole years ago
and now im looking at the active crowd rn and im like...way older than most of you
probably not you guys specifically since i dont think that too many of the current 'active circle' follow me but you get the idea
am i old
do i need to retire
i remember when i was more in the active circle
most of those other guys are gone nowit feels weird sometimes being an adult and seeing tons and tons of middle schoolers on here is all
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Yay old folks
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Y'all remember that old SU I made about how interesting Music Theory is?
And y'all remember that even older SU I made about how we need more Sea Shanties?
For some reason it hadn't even occurred to me that there's Sea Shanty Musical Theory.
It seems obvious now, but the whole reason they were "written" (that is to say, invented and carried out orally) in the first place was to coordinate their work. Musical beats are pretty much the most intuitive method of keeping time without any fancy stopwatches, which means it's pretty much the best way to do it if you happened to exist in the several thousand years before we figured out how to mass-produce easily-accessible timepieces.
So what do you do when you all need to hoist at the ropes simultaneously? What's the best way to coordinate when you put a good ol' heave into the work? Music.
Rule One is that Sea Shanties are work songs: you need a clear beat to heave your ropes and row your oars to. There are a couple distinct types of shanties that you can work with:
- Long-Drag: Otherwise known as a Halyard Shanty (which is metal as hell), which have prolonged sections for - get this - when you need to be doing long pulls on the ropes. "Hangin' Johnny" is a solid example of this.
- Short-Drag: Otherwise known as a Forsheet or Mainsheet Shanty (one of which is metal as hell), which have shorter, burstier beats. "Haul Away, Joe" is a really popular example.
- There are others, but they all kinda fall under those two categories.
Rule two is that the general form of a Sea Shanty is that of the basic Call-and-Response technique, which is this case is very literal as there's often a lead who starts the line and the workers who finish it - for example:
- Lead: I thought I heard the Old Man say
- Refrain: "Leave her, Johnny, leave her"
- Lead: Tomorrow ye will get your pay
- Refrain: And it's time for us to leave her
Rule three is that your chorus has pretty much got to repeat itself, which basically means you can stack as many verses as you want and keep people in the beat so as long as they know half of it.
- Leave her, Johnny, leave her
- Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her
- For the voyage is long and the winds don't blow
- And it's time for us to leave her
Past that there aren't really any rules for shanties that I can find. Common themes seem to follow an energetic yet kinda somber tone - like, you can bop to it, but it's still chill.
Did sailors invent LoFi? I think sailors invented LoFi.
Here's a bunch of shanties I listened to for research:
Spoiler- Cheer'ly Men - pretty much the oldest sea shanty I could find. Sung by some dude in the 70s, so the quality was awful. 5/10.
- Jack's the Lad - This was listed as one of the most classic sea shanties but I could only find orchestral "remasters." 0/10 (lame british orchestra).
- Fire Down Below - One of the many "multi-work" songs that were brought to the "civilized" by the rather unfortunate slave trade. Singing was noted to be the number one method by which the rather unfortunate slaves actually worked in the first place; once again, we can thank the black people for the best music. 8/10 (bop)
- Haul Away, Joe - One of the many renditions of the same-ish song. 10/10 (bop)
- A Hundred Years Ago - In the 19th century, sea shanties were used as a way to maintain order on more disciplined ships. This was one of the ones they have listed. 8/10 (smooth)
- One More Day - Another 19th-century song. I found a dope remix on youtube, which gets 10/10 for also being a bop.
- Santiana - Yet another 19th-century, because all of these have been epic so far. The version I found was completely vocal, which means it's solid quality. 11/10 for authenticity.
- Haul on the Bowline - Yes, another one, but this time I found a WHOLE FLIPPING CHANNEL with a SHANTY OF THE WEEK. Sean Dagher, who is the most redneck-looking guy I've ever laid eyes upon, and therefore 12/10.
- All of these! Who would've guessed that I would've found a thirty-minute video full of entirely vocal shanties? I'm about halfway through and they've all been absolute bangers so far.
What about the Wellerman? Drunken Sailor?
These two are probably the most popular shanties in modern media, which is good because they're both bangers. Drunken Sailor dates back to the 1820s as the earliest, which means it was about in the same eras as all those other songs I rated pretty highly.
The Wellerman was written in 1970, which might leave a bad taste in your mouth but is actually just the byproduct of sea shanties regaining popular after the ultimately fell off in the early 1900s - it wasn't until the late 40s that they started coming back on, and thank goodness for that. I don't usually approve of TikTok trends, but thank you Nathan Evans for bringing this sudden influx in Shanty popularity.
So basically: if you're into writing songs, you should try your hand at Sea Shanties! They're awesome, and we deserve more of them.
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...I don't really think that would count as an argument, I would consider it a discussion, but okay.
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Y'all remember that old SU I made about how interesting Music Theory is?
And y'all remember that even older SU I made about how we need more Sea Shanties?
For some reason it hadn't even occurred to me that there's Sea Shanty Musical Theory.
It seems obvious now, but the whole reason they were "written" (that is to say, invented and carried out orally) in the first place was to coordinate their work. Musical beats are pretty much the most intuitive method of keeping time without any fancy stopwatches, which means it's pretty much the best way to do it if you happened to exist in the several thousand years before we figured out how to mass-produce easily-accessible timepieces.
So what do you do when you all need to hoist at the ropes simultaneously? What's the best way to coordinate when you put a good ol' heave into the work? Music.
Rule One is that Sea Shanties are work songs: you need a clear beat to heave your ropes and row your oars to. There are a couple distinct types of shanties that you can work with:
- Long-Drag: Otherwise known as a Halyard Shanty (which is metal as hell), which have prolonged sections for - get this - when you need to be doing long pulls on the ropes. "Hangin' Johnny" is a solid example of this.
- Short-Drag: Otherwise known as a Forsheet or Mainsheet Shanty (one of which is metal as hell), which have shorter, burstier beats. "Haul Away, Joe" is a really popular example.
- There are others, but they all kinda fall under those two categories.
Rule two is that the general form of a Sea Shanty is that of the basic Call-and-Response technique, which is this case is very literal as there's often a lead who starts the line and the workers who finish it - for example:
- Lead: I thought I heard the Old Man say
- Refrain: "Leave her, Johnny, leave her"
- Lead: Tomorrow ye will get your pay
- Refrain: And it's time for us to leave her
Rule three is that your chorus has pretty much got to repeat itself, which basically means you can stack as many verses as you want and keep people in the beat so as long as they know half of it.
- Leave her, Johnny, leave her
- Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her
- For the voyage is long and the winds don't blow
- And it's time for us to leave her
Past that there aren't really any rules for shanties that I can find. Common themes seem to follow an energetic yet kinda somber tone - like, you can bop to it, but it's still chill.
Did sailors invent LoFi? I think sailors invented LoFi.
Here's a bunch of shanties I listened to for research:
Spoiler- Cheer'ly Men - pretty much the oldest sea shanty I could find. Sung by some dude in the 70s, so the quality was awful. 5/10.
- Jack's the Lad - This was listed as one of the most classic sea shanties but I could only find orchestral "remasters." 0/10 (lame british orchestra).
- Fire Down Below - One of the many "multi-work" songs that were brought to the "civilized" by the rather unfortunate slave trade. Singing was noted to be the number one method by which the rather unfortunate slaves actually worked in the first place; once again, we can thank the black people for the best music. 8/10 (bop)
- Haul Away, Joe - One of the many renditions of the same-ish song. 10/10 (bop)
- A Hundred Years Ago - In the 19th century, sea shanties were used as a way to maintain order on more disciplined ships. This was one of the ones they have listed. 8/10 (smooth)
- One More Day - Another 19th-century song. I found a dope remix on youtube, which gets 10/10 for also being a bop.
- Santiana - Yet another 19th-century, because all of these have been epic so far. The version I found was completely vocal, which means it's solid quality. 11/10 for authenticity.
- Haul on the Bowline - Yes, another one, but this time I found a WHOLE FLIPPING CHANNEL with a SHANTY OF THE WEEK. Sean Dagher, who is the most redneck-looking guy I've ever laid eyes upon, and therefore 12/10.
- All of these! Who would've guessed that I would've found a thirty-minute video full of entirely vocal shanties? I'm about halfway through and they've all been absolute bangers so far.
What about the Wellerman? Drunken Sailor?
These two are probably the most popular shanties in modern media, which is good because they're both bangers. Drunken Sailor dates back to the 1820s as the earliest, which means it was about in the same eras as all those other songs I rated pretty highly.
The Wellerman was written in 1970, which might leave a bad taste in your mouth but is actually just the byproduct of sea shanties regaining popular after the ultimately fell off in the early 1900s - it wasn't until the late 40s that they started coming back on, and thank goodness for that. I don't usually approve of TikTok trends, but thank you Nathan Evans for bringing this sudden influx in Shanty popularity.
So basically: if you're into writing songs, you should try your hand at Sea Shanties! They're awesome, and we deserve more of them.
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I think we're done, sorry.
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Y'all remember that old SU I made about how interesting Music Theory is?
And y'all remember that even older SU I made about how we need more Sea Shanties?
For some reason it hadn't even occurred to me that there's Sea Shanty Musical Theory.
It seems obvious now, but the whole reason they were "written" (that is to say, invented and carried out orally) in the first place was to coordinate their work. Musical beats are pretty much the most intuitive method of keeping time without any fancy stopwatches, which means it's pretty much the best way to do it if you happened to exist in the several thousand years before we figured out how to mass-produce easily-accessible timepieces.
So what do you do when you all need to hoist at the ropes simultaneously? What's the best way to coordinate when you put a good ol' heave into the work? Music.
Rule One is that Sea Shanties are work songs: you need a clear beat to heave your ropes and row your oars to. There are a couple distinct types of shanties that you can work with:
- Long-Drag: Otherwise known as a Halyard Shanty (which is metal as hell), which have prolonged sections for - get this - when you need to be doing long pulls on the ropes. "Hangin' Johnny" is a solid example of this.
- Short-Drag: Otherwise known as a Forsheet or Mainsheet Shanty (one of which is metal as hell), which have shorter, burstier beats. "Haul Away, Joe" is a really popular example.
- There are others, but they all kinda fall under those two categories.
Rule two is that the general form of a Sea Shanty is that of the basic Call-and-Response technique, which is this case is very literal as there's often a lead who starts the line and the workers who finish it - for example:
- Lead: I thought I heard the Old Man say
- Refrain: "Leave her, Johnny, leave her"
- Lead: Tomorrow ye will get your pay
- Refrain: And it's time for us to leave her
Rule three is that your chorus has pretty much got to repeat itself, which basically means you can stack as many verses as you want and keep people in the beat so as long as they know half of it.
- Leave her, Johnny, leave her
- Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her
- For the voyage is long and the winds don't blow
- And it's time for us to leave her
Past that there aren't really any rules for shanties that I can find. Common themes seem to follow an energetic yet kinda somber tone - like, you can bop to it, but it's still chill.
Did sailors invent LoFi? I think sailors invented LoFi.
Here's a bunch of shanties I listened to for research:
Spoiler- Cheer'ly Men - pretty much the oldest sea shanty I could find. Sung by some dude in the 70s, so the quality was awful. 5/10.
- Jack's the Lad - This was listed as one of the most classic sea shanties but I could only find orchestral "remasters." 0/10 (lame british orchestra).
- Fire Down Below - One of the many "multi-work" songs that were brought to the "civilized" by the rather unfortunate slave trade. Singing was noted to be the number one method by which the rather unfortunate slaves actually worked in the first place; once again, we can thank the black people for the best music. 8/10 (bop)
- Haul Away, Joe - One of the many renditions of the same-ish song. 10/10 (bop)
- A Hundred Years Ago - In the 19th century, sea shanties were used as a way to maintain order on more disciplined ships. This was one of the ones they have listed. 8/10 (smooth)
- One More Day - Another 19th-century song. I found a dope remix on youtube, which gets 10/10 for also being a bop.
- Santiana - Yet another 19th-century, because all of these have been epic so far. The version I found was completely vocal, which means it's solid quality. 11/10 for authenticity.
- Haul on the Bowline - Yes, another one, but this time I found a WHOLE FLIPPING CHANNEL with a SHANTY OF THE WEEK. Sean Dagher, who is the most redneck-looking guy I've ever laid eyes upon, and therefore 12/10.
- All of these! Who would've guessed that I would've found a thirty-minute video full of entirely vocal shanties? I'm about halfway through and they've all been absolute bangers so far.
What about the Wellerman? Drunken Sailor?
These two are probably the most popular shanties in modern media, which is good because they're both bangers. Drunken Sailor dates back to the 1820s as the earliest, which means it was about in the same eras as all those other songs I rated pretty highly.
The Wellerman was written in 1970, which might leave a bad taste in your mouth but is actually just the byproduct of sea shanties regaining popular after the ultimately fell off in the early 1900s - it wasn't until the late 40s that they started coming back on, and thank goodness for that. I don't usually approve of TikTok trends, but thank you Nathan Evans for bringing this sudden influx in Shanty popularity.
So basically: if you're into writing songs, you should try your hand at Sea Shanties! They're awesome, and we deserve more of them.
-
Y'all remember that old SU I made about how interesting Music Theory is?
And y'all remember that even older SU I made about how we need more Sea Shanties?
For some reason it hadn't even occurred to me that there's Sea Shanty Musical Theory.
It seems obvious now, but the whole reason they were "written" (that is to say, invented and carried out orally) in the first place was to coordinate their work. Musical beats are pretty much the most intuitive method of keeping time without any fancy stopwatches, which means it's pretty much the best way to do it if you happened to exist in the several thousand years before we figured out how to mass-produce easily-accessible timepieces.
So what do you do when you all need to hoist at the ropes simultaneously? What's the best way to coordinate when you put a good ol' heave into the work? Music.
Rule One is that Sea Shanties are work songs: you need a clear beat to heave your ropes and row your oars to. There are a couple distinct types of shanties that you can work with:
- Long-Drag: Otherwise known as a Halyard Shanty (which is metal as hell), which have prolonged sections for - get this - when you need to be doing long pulls on the ropes. "Hangin' Johnny" is a solid example of this.
- Short-Drag: Otherwise known as a Forsheet or Mainsheet Shanty (one of which is metal as hell), which have shorter, burstier beats. "Haul Away, Joe" is a really popular example.
- There are others, but they all kinda fall under those two categories.
Rule two is that the general form of a Sea Shanty is that of the basic Call-and-Response technique, which is this case is very literal as there's often a lead who starts the line and the workers who finish it - for example:
- Lead: I thought I heard the Old Man say
- Refrain: "Leave her, Johnny, leave her"
- Lead: Tomorrow ye will get your pay
- Refrain: And it's time for us to leave her
Rule three is that your chorus has pretty much got to repeat itself, which basically means you can stack as many verses as you want and keep people in the beat so as long as they know half of it.
- Leave her, Johnny, leave her
- Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her
- For the voyage is long and the winds don't blow
- And it's time for us to leave her
Past that there aren't really any rules for shanties that I can find. Common themes seem to follow an energetic yet kinda somber tone - like, you can bop to it, but it's still chill.
Did sailors invent LoFi? I think sailors invented LoFi.
Here's a bunch of shanties I listened to for research:
Spoiler- Cheer'ly Men - pretty much the oldest sea shanty I could find. Sung by some dude in the 70s, so the quality was awful. 5/10.
- Jack's the Lad - This was listed as one of the most classic sea shanties but I could only find orchestral "remasters." 0/10 (lame british orchestra).
- Fire Down Below - One of the many "multi-work" songs that were brought to the "civilized" by the rather unfortunate slave trade. Singing was noted to be the number one method by which the rather unfortunate slaves actually worked in the first place; once again, we can thank the black people for the best music. 8/10 (bop)
- Haul Away, Joe - One of the many renditions of the same-ish song. 10/10 (bop)
- A Hundred Years Ago - In the 19th century, sea shanties were used as a way to maintain order on more disciplined ships. This was one of the ones they have listed. 8/10 (smooth)
- One More Day - Another 19th-century song. I found a dope remix on youtube, which gets 10/10 for also being a bop.
- Santiana - Yet another 19th-century, because all of these have been epic so far. The version I found was completely vocal, which means it's solid quality. 11/10 for authenticity.
- Haul on the Bowline - Yes, another one, but this time I found a WHOLE FLIPPING CHANNEL with a SHANTY OF THE WEEK. Sean Dagher, who is the most redneck-looking guy I've ever laid eyes upon, and therefore 12/10.
- All of these! Who would've guessed that I would've found a thirty-minute video full of entirely vocal shanties? I'm about halfway through and they've all been absolute bangers so far.
What about the Wellerman? Drunken Sailor?
These two are probably the most popular shanties in modern media, which is good because they're both bangers. Drunken Sailor dates back to the 1820s as the earliest, which means it was about in the same eras as all those other songs I rated pretty highly.
The Wellerman was written in 1970, which might leave a bad taste in your mouth but is actually just the byproduct of sea shanties regaining popular after the ultimately fell off in the early 1900s - it wasn't until the late 40s that they started coming back on, and thank goodness for that. I don't usually approve of TikTok trends, but thank you Nathan Evans for bringing this sudden influx in Shanty popularity.
So basically: if you're into writing songs, you should try your hand at Sea Shanties! They're awesome, and we deserve more of them.
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...I don't quite understand what you mean by that.
