Whup Jamboree

Captain W. B. Whall, 1910, is one of the few sources of this wild, provocative shanty. He identifies it as stemming from a minstrel song, and indeed, one exists with the title but a separate melody. This was a homeward bound song, and "the chorus lends itself to the occasion," although Whall acknowledges that when no passengers were on board, an "unprintable" version was sung instead. In his experience, the line "I wonder if my clothes are out of pawn" was directly substituted when necessary.

There has been much speculation about the innuendo within the verses and chorus. Stan Hugill introduced the clever entendre "Jenny keep your ringtail warm" as the ringtail is a small, aft-ship sail but also connotes vigorous lovemaking upon the return of the sailor. In the early 1900s, John Short evidently provided Cecil Sharp the line "Jenny get your oatcake done," a chorus which also appears in a mid-19th century minstrel song.

Various references within the verse trace out a particular course of navigation, but in practice, it is likely that the details of the song were composed specifically for the journey at hand.

• In a few more days we'll sight Cape Clear: bound for England from the West.
• Pigtail sailormen: with long hair in a tarred queue, rather than the short-cropped hair of American packet sailors.
• The Pilot he looks out ahead: An individual with local knowledge taken aboard near questionable waters
• A hand in the chains and a-heaving on the lead: sailing lingo for sounding depths, etc.
• And now we're past the Lizard Lights: a lighthouse in Cornwall, southernmost Britain, built in 1751 and incrementally improved since.
• Blackwall Docks in Wapping, Docklands area of London, built 1612-1614, which fell into disuse during WWII.
• I'll say farewell to my Limehouse whore: district of London near the Blackwall, East India, and West India docks.

The tune is related to Santy Anna and the structure, says Cecil Sharp, is akin to Spanish Ladies. In Sharp's version,

• Rock Light is in Cheshire at the mouth of Mersey.
• Old Dan Lowrie's was a popular playhouse on Paradise Street, Liverpool, near the Waterloo dock.

Lloyd's verse mentions

• the Start lighthouse, at Start Point, Devon, England, built in 1836.