 Hallo - ik ben Dørk
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Whalesongs
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Farewell to Tarwathie |
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Farewell to Tarwathie, adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimond, I bid you farewell
I'm bound all for Greenland and ready to sail
In hopes to find riches in hunting the whale.
Farewell to my comrades, for a while we must part
And likewise the dear lass who first won my heart
The cold coast of Greenland, my love will not chill
And the longer my absence, more loving she'll feel.
Our ship is well-rigged and she's ready to sail
The crew, they are anxious to follow the whale
Where the icebergs do float and the stormy winds blow
And the land and the ocean are covered with snow.
The cold coast of Greenland is barren and bare
No seed time nor harvest is ever known there
And the birds here sing sweetly on mountain and dale
But there's no bird in Greenland to sing to the whale.
There is no habitation for a man to live there
And the king of that country is the fierce Greenland bear
And there'll be no temptation to tarry long there
With our ship bumper full we will homeward repair.
De woorden van dit Schotse walvislied zijn niet geschreven door een walvisvaarder, maar door een molenaar, George Scroggie, afkomstig uit de omgeving van Aberdeen. Hij gebruikte de melodie van "The Green Bushes".
Walvisliederen zijn werkliederen uit de walvisvaartindustrie (te vergelijken met "shanties"). Gegoten in de vorm van een ballade, vertelt het vaak het verhaal van een bepaalde reis of avontuur.
Andere voorbeelden zijn "Greenland Whale fisheries", "Rolling Down to Old Maui", "Blow Ye Winds of Morning". Deze liederen hebben overigens niets meer te maken met de moderne gemechaniseerde walvisvaartindustrie.
Farewell to Tarwathie werd ook opgenomen door Judy Collins op haar LP "Whales and Nightingales", waarop ze begeleid wordt door - ironisch genoeg - een "walvissenkoor" van bultrugwalvissen! Als je de meeslepende muziek wilt horen, klik dan op het woordje *music* (links in de marge) van de navolgende link: http://claymore.wisemagic.com/scotradiance/midi/midi9901.htm
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Greenland whale fisheries 'Twas in eighteen hundred and fifty-three
In June, the thirteenth day
That our gallant ship her anchor weighed
And for Greenland sailed away, brave boys
And for Greenland sailed away.
The lookout on the cross-trees stood
With a spyglass in his hand
There's a whale, there's a whale
There's a whalefish, he cried,
And she blows at every span, brave boys
She blows at every span.
The captain stood on the quarterdeck
And a fine little man was he
Overhaul! Overhaul!
Let your davit-tackles fall
And launch your boats for sea, brave boys
And launch your boats for sea.
The boats where launched with the men aboard
And the whale was in full view
Resolved was each seaman bold
To steer where the whalefish blew, brave boys
To steer where the whalefish blew.
We struck that whale, and the line played out
But she gave a flourish with her tail
The boat capsized and four men were drowned
And we never caught that whale, brave boys
And we never caught that whale.
To lose that whale, our captain said
It grieves my heart full sore
But, oh, to lose four gallant men
It grieves me ten times more, brave boys
It grieves me ten times more.
The winter star doth now appear
So, boys, we'll anchor weigh
It's time to leave this cold country
And homeward bear away, brave boys
And homeward bear away.
Oh, Greenland is a dreadful place
A land that's never green
Where there's ice and snow
And the whale fishes blow
And daylight's seldom seen, brave boys
And daylight's seldom seen.
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