On the cover of "Fire Down Below" is a full color rendition of a sperm whale's tooth, beautifully scrimshawed with an image of a pair of beautiful bustled and corseted mid-1800s women on a dock, waving farewell (or possibly hello) to a fully-rigged wooden sailing ship being consumed by a sailor's worst nightmare, fire at sea. It's a dramatic, poignant scene of the heartbreak of East Coast whaling town women, sometimes waiting and watching the horizon for years for the return of their sailor men. Joy, Alison, Bonnie and Deirdre, a NYC-based Folk quartet, have spent the last 11 years singing authentic a cappella sea chanteys, sometimes joined by the One More Day Chanteymen, their "good friends and solid singers." There are 18 songs here, some favorites are "Heave Her Up," "Shallow Brown," "Shiny-O," "Titanic," the title tune, "Three Foot Seam," "Shove Around The Jug," the poignant "Nantucket Lullabye," "Victoria," the Irish Folk round "Baidin Fheilimidh," "Santianno," "One More Day," and "Mary, Come Join The Religion.'' These are working songs, most of them cadenced to assist in rowing a boat or hauling up a sail or an anchor; the odd miner's union song ("Three Foot Seam") and one that relates to both sailors and miners ("Cornish Lads"). Some are borderline bawdy ("Tailor In The Chest" and "Swing Your Tail") but they obviously gave good warning to sailormen on shore leave. Almost all these songs are new to us, well-performed by the Johnson Girls, and good, authentic Folk music! |
