Barrett's Privateers

This is Barrett's Privateers by Stan Rogers.

This is not an authentic sea shanty from back in the day, but it is very much in the style!

Although this is a fictional tale about a privateer contracted by England to prey on American merchant ships during the American revolution, the nautical terms are pretty spot on accurate for the time, and the tale captures the long stretches of routine punctuated by moments of terror.

My connection with this song is this:

At 2:00am or so, last call, end of a gig, the band and I sweaty and exhausted from loading equipment into the van, driving however long to a gig, unloading and setting up, playing our hearts out for three or four hours, now tired and wanting to get some sleep before work or another gig the next day, and needing to load the equipment back into the van and drive home, this song would come in clutch!

See, there'd always be a few people hanging around wanting another song. They're drunk, they've had a GREAT time, and just can't grasp that the bar is closing and the show is over!

This a cappella tune, very much in the style of a nautical work song, was GREAT for keeping us motivated and working as we dismantled the drum kit, the PA, wound cables, and hefted amps out to the parking lot.

And as soon as the stragglers caught on, they'd join in on the chorus, their mugs pounding on table tops, and we could get loaded and get GONE leaving everyone with a last good time!