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"With
their second album, 'Lost at Sea,' Bounding Main
continues in the fine tradition of the first. While
remaining firmly rooted in a-cappella maritime songs,
they never-the-less span a wide range of emotions and
styles. From the catchy drinking shanties like 'Haul
Away Joe,' 'Marching Inland,' and (naturally) 'All for
Me Grog' and on to more haunting and even soulful pieces
such as 'Northwest Passage' and 'Dreadnaught,' the
entire crew of Bounding Main
put their voices to maximum impact, accompanied only by
occasional claps and the selective use of sound effects.
An excellent CD that hoists the bar for sea shanties
everywhere."
— Gerard Heidgerken
Bilgemunky.com ©
2006, Read the full review
here. |
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Bounding Main's crew is a group of veteran environmental
theater performers with the love of music and performance in
their blood, performing sea shanties and songs of the sea.
All of the members are theatrically and musically trained,
which makes their shows so much fun! Preserving the
Elizabethan Sea Dog look in their costumes and gear, they
sing sea shanties and ballads from 400 years ago through
today. While this might, on the surface, sound academic, the
Bounding Main shows are filled with spirit, humor and
excellent vocal music. Through their arrangements and
harmonies they have made their
works agreeable to the modern ear and attention span.
Sea shanties were written by sailors in the days of tall
ships as rhythmic devices to ensure that gangs of men
working together to pull ropes, pump bilges or raise the
anchor all kept in step with one another. The songs are all
rich in harmony and dynamically bring the listener into the
world of pirates, adventure and romance.
Liner
notes from "Lost at Sea:"
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High Barbaree
(Traditional Fo’c’sle Song)
A ship song and guess what? A ship sinks! Tragedy! Gotta
love it. There is choreography that goes along with this
one. Drop by a show some time and Maggie will be
overjoyed to teach it to you, over and over again.
Soloist: Maggie Hannington
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Haul Away Joe
(Traditional)
A tack and sheet shanty. That’s right, a tack and
sheet shanty. Say that fast a few times (Bounding
Main is not responsible for the filth that may pour
from your lips while saying “a tack and sheet
shanty”).
Soloist: David Yondorf (and if by “Yondorf” you
mean…)
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Marching
Inland
A cure for sea-sickness song. We love this song as we
are the WORST sailors ever! Not a lot of drinking in the
group, Gina gets sea-sick (the tall ship the Denis
Sullivan tried to kill her you know), Maggie is afraid
of water, Jon doesn’t know what the difference is
between a capstan shanty and a halyard shanty, Christie
is afraid to sing in public, David…actually we are all
kind of afraid of him so the less said the better. Dean
of course, well he knows all this stuff and is the
closest thing to a sailor/historian/shantyman that we
have.
We're all on this one. Words and Music by: Tom Lewis
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"Actually, I think the
harmonies - and the slight departures from the
original melody - were very inventive and
attractive, and the variation of pace is good 'ear
candy.'"
— Tom Lewis
Author or "Marching Inland" |
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Herzogin
Cecile
(Words and music by:
Ken Stephens)
This is a ship song. The ship sinks. We
love it when that happens! We had a hard
time keeping to the traditional
sea-faring style of music that this
piece deserves. Christie’s lyrical
storytelling about the ship makes us all
want to snap our fingers, turn the
lights down low, and do a little jazz.
Soloist: Christie Dalby
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Bully in the
Alley
(Traditional Halyard
Shanty)
A love song, sort of. Roughly translated
it’s a song about a boy and a girl and
someone being blind drunk and stumblin’ in
an alley. We do that too but without the
alcohol. We just like being in blind alleys.
Soloist: Jon Krivitzky
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Northwest
Passage
(Words and Music by:
Stan Rogers)
An explorer song. Ahhh…exploring.
Something that we do every time we get
into a car and try to get to a gig. This
is a beautiful piece about explorers
trying to find the Northwest Passage to
the Orient.
Soloist: Gina Dalby.
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Little Boy Billee
(Traditional Fo’c’sle Song)
A few of the boys die song. Tragedy? We think
not. In fact, they get what’s coming to ‘em.
This is a guys’ song. The girls were nowhere
near it when it happened and take no
responsibility for it.
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A Capital Ship
(Words and music by: Charles
Edward Carryl (1841-1920))
A grammar song. Get it, A “Capital” Ship? Not
buying that? Well then it’s a ship song. But
sadly, the ship does not sink. The song does
however contain mysterious lyrics that sound
like, “on the Gulliby Isles where the pooh-poo
smiles and the anagazanders roar”. Spend some
time figuring that one out. A special thanks to
Anne Delfeld for introducing us to this song.
This is an all-sing featuring the girls.
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Irish Rover
(Traditional Irish
Tune)
A ship song. And yes, gloriously, it
sinks! Not only does it sink, it takes
the crew and their mangy, flea-bitten,
poop-machine of a dog with them. Boy we
miss that dog…
This has all of us, featuring the guys.
Egg Percussion: Christie Dalby
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Dreadnaught
(Traditional, sung as a Fo’c’sle
Song)
A ship song. Gina thinks this song is long and
insists that it makes her butt look big. She also
thinks the held note near the end of the piece is
pretentious but we know she could have held it
longer. However, between the possible unending
duration of the note, and the size of her butt, we
just left it the way it is and moved on.
Soloist: Gina Dalby
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Cape Cod
Girls
(Traditional)
A capstan or pump shanty, also known to
us as a “shanty-shanty”. This one tells
you all you would ever need to know
about the girls, kids, cats, and shoes
that inhabit Cape Cod.
Soloists: Dean Calin and David Yondorf
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Cadgewith
Anthem
(Traditional Cornish Ballad . .
. but so updated as to hardly resemble the original.
New lyrics composed by Gina and Christie Dalby.)
A “girls blame the guys” song. The ladies are in
desperate circumstances, just take a look at with whom
they sail, and they are forced to turn to a life of
crime. They only steal from the audience though, just
like Robin Hood. Kinda. Maybe. Well, ok, not at all like
Robin Hood, but they still haul in some sweet loot!
This is a girls’ song only. We sent the guys out for,
well anything just to get them out of here.
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All for Me
Grog
(Traditional)
A drinkin’ song and a church song. Well ok, it’s only a
church song at the end but we do what we can.
This is an all-skate.
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Randy Dandy
O
(Traditional)
This is a capstan shanty. You can really
hear the crew working and complaining on
this song. Dean leads us kicking and
screaming into this one but it all works
out in the end. Mostly.
Soloist: Dean Calin
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