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Banks of the Newfoundland

from Far From The Tree by TEYR

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about

Tommie stumbled upon this song in the book Canow Kernow (Songs of Cornwall). The song’s antagonist, the ocean, immediately jumped off the page through its undulating melody.

From John Farr of Gwithian on the Cornish north coast, it was recorded by J.E. Thomas in 1926. Its origins are likely to trace back to Liverpool however as a forebitter song. This connection shares a similar path to Tommie’s own family who moved to Cornwall from Wales via Liverpool, albeit in a different century.

The tale traces the arduous journey across the Atlantic in the age before steamers. It holds particular resonance in Cornwall where the collapse of its mining industry in the 1800s signalled an exodus for several generations of Cornishmen searching for a new life in the Americas, Australia and beyond.

lyrics

You western ocean labourers
I’ll have you all beware
That when you sail them packet ships
No dungaree jumpers wear
But have a big monkey jacket
All ready to your hand
For there blows some cold Northwesters
On the Banks of the Newfoundland

As I lay in me bunk one night
A-dreaming all alone
I dreamt I was in Liverpool
On the way to Marylebone
With my true love beside of me
And a jug of ale in hand
When I woke quite broken-hearted
On the Banks of the Newfoundland, the land, the land

We’ll scrape them and scrub them
With holystone and sand
For there blows some cold Northwesters
On the Banks of the Newfoundland

We had Jack Lynch from Ballinahinch
Mike Murphy and some more
And I’ll tell you boys they suffered like hell
On the way to Baltimore
For they'd pawned their gear in Liverpool
And sailed as they did stand
For they'd pawned their gear in Liverpool
Not thinking of Newfoundland

Well we had one female passenger
Bridget Reilly was her name
Unto her I had promised marriage
And on me she had claim
For she tore up all her petticoats
To make mittens for my hands
Saying I can’t see my true love freeze
On the Banks of the Newfoundland, the land, the land

We’ll scrape them and scrub them
With holystone and sand
For there blows some cold Northwesters
On the Banks of the Newfoundland

We’ll scrape them and scrub them with holystone and sand [Repeat]

Well the mate he did stand on the foc’sle head
And loudly did he roar
Now rattle her in me lucky lads
We’re bound for America’s shore
Come wipe that blood off a dead man’s face
And haul or you’ll be damned
For there blows some cold Northwesters
On the Banks of the Newfoundland

Well our luck has changed once more me lads
And the land is white with snow
And soon we’ll see the pay table and spend the night below
And down the docks come down in flocks
The pretty girls will demand
It’s snugger with me than on the sea
On the Banks of the Newfoundland, the land, the land

We’ll scrape them and scrub them with holystone and sand
For It’s snugger with me than on the sea [Repeat]
On the Banks of the Newfoundland

credits

from Far From The Tree, released September 23, 2016
Words: Trad / Music: Black-Roff

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TEYR London, UK

Folk trio TEYR evolved out of London’s thriving session scene, combining bothy ballads, focsle shanties, folk tunes and Irish poetry. Their unique blend of voices and instruments draws links between the many sounds of the Celtic and British isles.

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