Titanic in Song

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Hope this may be a good repository for all things musical and Titanic. Last I heard there were over 317 Titanic tunes ranging from folk, ballad, "tearjerker"- waltzes, soundtracks from films, regional and ethnic-based compositions,musicals and Broadway productions, pop, and blues. Shall we get busy? Here's a few offerings to start us off:
6 "folksy" Titanic tunes-

The Titanic (Seth Newton Mize/Mrs. James K. Nash) (1951)

scroll to the bottom to connect to the links for all of them

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Can't resist these- some I have never heard of. Some require Real Player to hear.
http://web.archive.org/web/20020811125113/http://www.mudcat.org/titles-t.cfm

Titanic

Gigmasters - Your Entertainment Planner
http://www.elycia-webdesign.com/celtic/titanic.html

Wayback Machine

The Great Titanic - American Folk Song

 

[sharon rutman]

God Bless Ebay auctions. I just won from Starbase Atlanta a CD of music from the classic Time Tunnel series. The CD features the complete suite from their Titanic episode Rendezvous with Yesterday, complete with a lilting Titanic related piece. The music is splendid.

 

[fred pelka]

There is a long long song about the Titanic written by Boston folk singer Jaimie Brocket, called (I believe) "Ballad of the H.M.S. Titanic." (His mistake might have been deliberate). It's a satire on racial segregation, written in the mid 1960s. The plot concerns (among other things) how boxer Jack Johnson wasn't allowed to sail on the Titanic because he was black. Whether or not this really happened I have no idea. Anyway, the chorus is:

Well it was midnight on the sea
the band was playing "Nearer my God to Thee,"
fare thee well, Titanic, fare thee well.
Well they wouldn't let Jack Johnson on board,
they said, "This ship don't haul no coal,"
Fare thee well, Titanic, fare thee well.

Thanking you all for the links in the previous posting,

Fred Pelka

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Fred, this is one of a number of songs based on the premise that there were no black people on Titanic. Almost true, but not quite. Here's the ET bio on Joseph Laroche, who travelled with his family in Second Class.

Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche : Titanic Victim

Joseph Laroche was an engineer from Haiti; he and his daughters were the only black passengers aboard the Titanic...

www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

 

[fred pelka]

Thanks Bob.

I checked the link. Fascinating story. I don't remember much else about the song, except it was very long.

 

[Don Tweed]

Sung to the tune of Gilligans Island.

Come sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this English port, aboard a gigantic ship, the mates were mighty sailing men, the Captain brave and sure, over 2,000 souls set sail that day for a North Atlantic tour...a North Atlantic tour....
the weather remained calm and clear, the mighty ship sailed on, if not for the complacency of the fearless Captain the Titanic would be fine...the Titanic would be fine...
the ship struck the side of a mighty berg just east of the Grand Banks, with the crewmen...the Captain too...some millionaires and their wives...a movie star...the steerage clan and the band...doomed on Titanics decks.....

Posted with no disrespect intended to anyone or anything.
-Don

 

[Tracy Smith]

Very clever, Don. I liked it.

 

[Don Tweed]

Seems like months since I have posted!!!
Thank-you Tracy for the brief critique!
You can bet your bottom dollar I had had a few before that little ditty came to mind!

Best reguards, Don

 

[Christopher Holder]

I don't know how many of you are country music fans, and even if you are, you might not have heard of this artist or this song.

Buddy Jewell, who won the "Nashville Star" competition on the USA network last year, has a song that mentions Titanic on his first CD.

The song is entitled "O'Reilly Luck". It's about an Irish family and a string of bad luck. They decide to set sail for America, only to have the baby come down with "the fever". The entire family is quarantined, and they miss the boat, so to speak.

The final verse:

"Granddaddy told this story 'til he passed away,
How the people all cheered from the dock that day,
While he shook his fist with a tear in his eye,
At the beautiful ship of the White Star Line,
And he cursed his fate and his danged O'Reilly Luck,
As the mighty Titanic, sailed into the sun..."

A neat little song that really caught me by surprise when I heard those lyrics. I wonder if Buddy has any interest in the ship?

-Chris Holder

 

[fred pelka]

Just remembered another one:

Praise be to Nero's Neptune
the Titanic sails at dawn
everybody is shouting
which side are you on?
And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot
are fighting in the captain's tower
while calypso singers laugh at them
and fishermen hold flowers
between the windows of the sea
where lovely mermaids flow
and nobody has to think too much
about Desolation Row.

"Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan

I always thought that verse was a sort of back-handed reference to "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the last part where it goes:

"I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown."

Anyway, this is for all us compulsive types who want every reference possible.

Best wishes to all,

Fred Pelka

 

[Tim Goosey]

Some years ago, I wrote a song about Titanic called 'Maiden Voyage'. It was subsequently recorded by Simon Nicol of Fairport Convention on his second solo album, 'Consonant Please Carol'. If you want you hear the song, you can order the album from Amazon.

Great web site!

Tim Goosey

 

[Noel F. Jones]

"There is a long long song about the Titanic written by Boston folk singer Jaimie Brocket, called (I believe) "Ballad of the H.M.S. Titanic." (His mistake might have been deliberate). It's a satire on racial segregation, written in the mid 1960s. The plot concerns (among other things) how boxer Jack Johnson wasn't allowed to sail on the Titanic because he was black. Whether or not this really happened I have no idea. Anyway, the chorus is:"

My understanding is that this song is a lot older and was recorded by Huddie Leadbetter between the wars.

As to whether Jack Johnson made it to Europe is another topic...

Noel

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

I think you may be right about that. Here is a good source for lyrics of some of these old tunes, and most have a click-on link with a piano playing the melody line. After you click on the song you want, wait a second, then scroll down to see the lyrics and click-on midi file link. Some lyrics have more than one tune.
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=55784

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Right here on ET there is (or used to be) a playable file of an actual recording of Leadbelly's song made in 1948. It's in the resources section - can't check it myself right now as my sound card isn't working. There are no copyright dates prior to 1936, but Leadbelly himself claimed in an interview that he wrote the piece, or something very like it, back in 1912. That makes sense, as the Titanic didn't stay in the public imagination for long, and those who were inspired to write something about it generally did so immediately after the event.