Sea shanty

On By EstherIn Music, TV & media

Need to get my head out of politics and frustration and came across a Tiktok meme that did just that. On TikTok people make short 1 minute videos and they have this thing where one person can sing and another in a reaction can add on to that song track and sing as well. This month a shanty song from New Zealand called The Wellerman has become quite the rage and as people add on, it becomes even more amazing. The original is already pretty awesome…

@nathanevanss

The Wellerman. #seashanty #sea #shanty #viral #singing #acoustic #pirate #new #original #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #singer #scottishsinger #scottish

♬ Wellerman – Sea Shanty – Nathan Evans

Another guy added a baseline… wow…

https://www.tiktok.com/@luke.the.voice/video/6911379912662224133?lang=en

And then even more harmony and bass, it’s become a choir…

@jonnystewartbass

#duet with @the.bobbybass SHANTY TIME once again! Adding a lower middle harmony 🙂 @nthnevnss @_luke.the.voice_ @apsloan01 #shantytok #wellerman

♬ Wellerman – Sea Shanty – Nathan Evans

There’s even an addition with female voices and a violin!

@tahnex

Viral Sea Shanty tiktok mix @nthnevnss @_luke.the.voice_ @miaasanomusic @jonnystewartbass @anipeterson @beccaleighz #seashantytiktok #seashanty

♬ original sound – Tahnex

I wish these videos were longer than just a minute! This thing has apparently gone viral and there have already been articles written about this, like in The Guardian, or a piece on the guy who originally posted that Wellerman shanty. I’m loving this. If you want to see a few other Tiktok shanty songs, scroll through the time line belonging to this message… Logging off now and skipping to the kitchen to bring us sugar and tea and rum!

57 thoughts on “Sea shanty”

  1. Servetus

    I saw the Guardian article, too, and still remained a bit mystified by the whole thing, but since it makes people so happy, why not. it’s funny to me that nowadays so many people will never admit that they like to sing when they are in a group (or absolutely deny it), but they will engage in this kind of mass singing. (I personally love to sing in groups, so I am probably not especially receptive to the joys of singing on TikTok.)

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    1. Oh, it doesn’t mystify me at all, this joy of singing together, even virtually. It’s a way of connecting with others who like the same thing, not always to be found close around you in real life. Oh, and I’ll admit to everyone and anyone that I enjoy singing. I don’t have a very good voice it but always like doing it.

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      1. Servetus

        You’re apparently in the majority. [shrugs] I don’t see the point if I’m not in the same room. I honestly haven’t watched any of these vids that have multiple people performing music from different locations, apart from one (the German “Scheiß Corona” vid, either, which was funny. I loved orchestra and choir but I can’t imagine doing it from remote. But hey, whatever makes people happy!

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        1. I like the connecting the world aspect of it, you can build a community with others who are anywhere in this world. Kinda like on here. 🙂
          As for the joy, singing together in the same room would be even better, I do agree with that.

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          1. Servetus

            I was thinking about that after my earlier reply to you. “It’s complicated.” I have the feeling that although I really enjoy the Armitage blogworld and look forward to many of the discussions we all have, I don’t derive the same feelings of connection to others from it that others seem to (which is fine). The thing, though, is that if I wanted to play an instrument alone in a room, I would (in this house there are a piano, a clarinet, a flute, a saxophone, a trombone, and probably a few others), but the odds that i would ever record it are very low. I like that it is gone when it’s over. And now apparently you can have an orchestra or a choir that way, okay. But you really can’t have a conversation only with yourself, because you never, or only rarely, surprise yourself. (I was thinking about this while teaching philosophy this cycle — I have sometimes come to surprising conclusions on my own — but the path there is often pretty predictable.) To use a much-abused metaphor: conversation : thought :: sex ; masturbation. Each has its place and its context — but to me these internet choirs and bands seem like group masturbation, to which I have no objection, but in which I also have no real interest.

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            1. No, the connection is not the same as with ‘real’ people, but I do derive a joy from these online connections because here I get to talk about things I don’t necessarily always talk about with people in real life. Analyzing Richard Armitage stuff, or any other movies or actors or whatever, is not really something I do that much with ‘real life’ people, so blogging gives me that outlet and the chance to discuss with like-minded people. I’m thinking that singing thing is the same, people find a connection online with others who love the same thing they do. This past year there is also the added complication of people not being been able to physically get together due to the pandemic, so these online get togethers have an extra dimension to them for me. Depite lockdowns, people still try to connect and I find that a beautiful thing. So masturbation instead of sex it is. 😉 Both have their pleasurable functions. But even without pandemic these things are still enjoyable, I find. It’s a different kind of connection but definitely still there and valuable as well. For me, I don’t search for best friends online but I do love the friendly exchanges and I enjoy the discussions like this one, which make me think about things I had never really considered that deeply before. 🙂

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              1. Esther spot on too although I have found some truly wonderful dear friendships through the fandom who got me through 6 weeks of lockdown and I am single and alone. I find the comparison to group masturbation absurd
                I highly recommend Dear White People

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              2. I actually find it a valid (and quite funny) comparison. I mean, can you picture it? Yes, absurd and cracks me up too! I can understand the extra need for people who are alone to need to connect closely to others online. I have less of that urge, maybe because I’m not alone, but I do enjoy the connections I do have online nonetheless.

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              3. And that’s it Esther connection to others and TikTok is widely popular now because it allows interaction with others which if fir nothing else out of this pandemic nightmare we hopefully have grown to reach out to others and bring happiness to many who are down or in need of happiness
                I wholeheartedly agree blogging brings connection too and February for all five of us was a culmination of online interaction and that has been a godsend to me

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              4. It’s all down to personal preference and feeling, some people just derive much more from online contact than others. Some find it important and a godsend, some don’t, and I (as usual) am somewhere in the middle. 🙂

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              5. Servetus

                I remember we used to have these discussions off and on about whether virtual friends were “real” friends, and I had been wondering a week or so ago whether we should now just go ahead and say that all of our friends are virtual now — as if on some level there is no distinction, since we never see anyone F2F anymore. However, at least we still have the memory of people we know F2F, IRL, etc. There’s also a lot of discussion about whether virtual life makes people feel less connected, whether it’s destructive to our emotional lives. My feelings about that are complex, but that might be part of the reaction I am experiencing here. I know what it’s like to play music in an ensemble and these vids leave with me with mystification and/or low-level alienation because I can’t imagine how doing this would even come close to that. (Perhaps it’s easier if I relate this to teaching: I have not been in a F2F classroom since March, and while what I do gets the job done, people in the classes appear to be learning things, and there are occasional good moments, on the whole the experience of teaching exclusively online in comparison to teaching F2F or even hybrid is vastly inferior in every way.)

                I’m not anti-masturbation, or even anti-group-masturbation (although the latter doesn’t appeal to me). I realize some people find just the word negatively provocative, but that’s what it’s called! I do try to talk about these things because I don’t understand them, and I enjoy the “surprise” end of conversation. To me virtual conversations come a lot closer to the experience of conversation than this sort of virtual music comes to live music ensembles. Introversion may play a role here, too, but I’ll stop before I get that far off the path of convention.

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              6. Nice point about all our friends being virtual now. I guess for me, once I’ve actually met them face to face, they in a way become real friends. Not necessarily close friends, but they feel real even if I haven’t seen them for real in a while. Personal example: I have two friends that I made online 19 years ago on a message board for new mothers. In time message board chats went to more personal e-mail chats and then at one point we acually met in person in Boston. For years we chatted daily through e-mail, we have seen each other physically maybe two or three times. We now chat (via group texts) a little less frequently but still quite a lot and I still consider them two of my closest friends. Even my mom occaisionally asks how they are (she met them once, some 8 or 9 years ago). While the digital contact is wonderful, I do always yearn to meet up with them for real too. The funny thing is that when we do, our conversations just continue on from where we left off in chats. But granted, most virtual friendships aren’t like that and I confess to not seeking that out either, there are only few that I count to my close circle and I’m not really looking for more, it’s busy enough as it is. I do (so far) really enjoy meeting fandom friends in real life, sometimes they are just like I imagined them and sometimes not and it helps knowing that in further online communication afterwards. It’s as if, once you’ve met face to face, you become even more tolerant of them because now you ‘know’ them. So, I guess what I’m saying is that digital is a great medium to connect and stay connected but to develop an even deeper feeling for someone I too would always need the face to face. Same with seeing concerts on screen or experiencing them live – the live experience will always be more intense but it doesn’t mean the screen experience isn’t enjoyable as well.

                Oh, and LOL, group masturbation or group sex are so not for me…

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              7. Servetus

                There’s something subtle in live group performance (and you can see it even in recorded versions of life group performance) where the people directly influence each other. Everyone subtly adjusts to what everyone else is doing. I don’t know how to describe it, quite. So maybe group sex for me but not group masturbation (maybe I’m too self-conscious). I’ll refrain from introducing porn into the discussion.

                I think one huge advantage to me to “virtual” friendships is that I come into exchange with people I’d never ordinarily meet (either for logistical reasons, or because our interests would mostly not intersect). For that reason I find them at times more interesting or surprising, which is a plus for me. I learn a lot. I have also had really great friendships with people that way that don’t ever enter “RL.” But / and my feelings about this have changed a lot since 2014; I have increasingly realized that the “surprise” effect is not sufficient for a friendship, even online, that I can’t be friends with most people I meet online (and that that is okay) just because of a shared interest, and that meeting people falls into an entirely different category. I definitely have not become more tolerant of people after meeting them (key experience from LLL in 2016), nor do I experience that they become more tolerant of me (those two effects are probably related). There were a few exceptions but they involve people with whom I could have been great friends with even if I had met them in RL first and Armitage fandom had never been involved.

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              8. Oh yes, the friends who are close to me in real life will be the ones I have more in common with than just Richard. Same goes with my two friends in the US that I’ve known for close to 20 years now. I met others of our online message board as well in 2004 and it was fun and we got along fine, but they haven’t been ‘stayers’ like those two have. The 3 of us became good friends not just because of issues we were trying to figure out with our babies, we became friends because we had a lot of other things we also liked to discuss together with culture or politics and a general similar outlook on life.

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        2. I’m guessing the point is that currently people can’t participate together in a room. So they’re trying to make the best of a bad situation and using technology to simulate being together. Its the end result that makes people feel more connected. Alot of people just don’t like being alone and will do whatever they can to make life seem more normal ( and at least this way its safe and not spreading the virus)

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  2. squirrel.0072

    I dedicate your article to the three sailors who died , off Calvados, during the night of Thursday 14 to Friday January 15, 2021. When being towed by the rescuers, their boat sank in 30 seconds, 30 minutes away from the coast.

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  3. Thank you Esther for this post! I think people can sing alone or with a group because it brings them joy
    Tik Tok is pretty popular
    My nieces have apparently explored it 😁❤️
    Hope the tea, sugar and rum were good ! ❤️❤️❤️😂👍

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    1. Well, I confess I didn’t actually get tea and sugar and rum…

      Yes, my daughter’s been on TikTok for a while but she sighed when she saw me watching these TikTok films, she says TikTok isn’t for old people like me.😂

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  4. there was a radio piece on this yesterday (i’ve seen it all over twitter though) and I didn’t realise that some of it was because tiktok allows you to inteact with other peoples videos thus allowing the extras singers to join in. Technology and the ways its applied is fascinating.
    I almost added one onto my reply, but it’s a bit political (being rude about one of the UKs politicians) so I thought best not ruin your mood!

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            1. LOL! Oh dear, do I want to know who Hannes Wader is? I’ve never considered buying a Seemannslieder CD before. Or does Hannes sing the English ones and not the German ones like from Hans Albers and Heino (do you know them)?

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              1. Servetus

                Wader is (I think he’s still alive) a leftie West German folk song singer whose biggest days were in the 70s, and he was part of the whole push to rehabilitate German folk music and take it away from the Right. His most famous song is probably “Heute hier, morgen dort.” On the shanty album it’s mostly German (and plattdeutsche) songs, there are I think 2 English ones. I used to really love him, although more so the traditional folk songs as opposed to the shanties.

                Hans Albers: yes. I actually like those performances (even if exSO would cringe); they seem nostalgic to me. (Serv breaks into “auf der Reeperbahn …”). I never really appreciated Heino the same way and really am unfamiliar with his singing.

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              2. How come I don’t know Wader? Hmmm, need to google him, maybe he’ll seem familiar on sight or sound.

                Yes, Hans Albers gives me Nazi vibes (although he seems to secretly have had a Jewish girlfriend, I later learned, and although he played in Nazi movies, never really voiced any Nazi sympathies).

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              4. Servetus

                Albers — no, he did not cover himself in glory as a member of the opposition (GF notwithstanding). I think I heard that stuff first because there was a sort of Comedian Harmonists fad in Germany in the mid-90s and then at some point one of the parents of my friends said something about Albers. It was all a lot harder then — Germany was just getting the Internet. I educated myself a bit more fully later.

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    1. Not delved into it deeply but I heard that too. My dauighter says she only partakes, never posts, but I guess even just partaking and liking things can tell you a lot about a person.

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      1. Servetus

        Fwiw:

        https://www.boredpanda.com/tik-tok-reverse-engineered-data-information-collecting/

        I only know this because I used this example during the summer in my American Government class. The US President tried to ban the app in the US by executive order (although since I don’t use it myself I haven’t followed the status of the attempted ban, and politically the hostility to everything Chinese is something he was doing in order to distract attention from Russian malfeasance). Given that the US Congress has become almost unworkable as an instrument of public policy, presidential orders have been heavily used in the last few presidencies to try to get things done. This in turn raises public ire because they feel like the president is acting undemocratically, and when a different party has the presidency, the executive orders are repealed or altered and that creates uncertainty about law. So I thought this would be a good example of a political step that affected them personally. It was for about 3/4 of them. The other quarter was like “What is TikTok?” LOL.

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  9. Pingback: Why won’t they shut. up.? [spoilers for Together (2021)] | Me + Richard Armitage

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