But as generations of American schoolchildren could attest, it was most often recited. Written and published as a poem, it so caught the fancy of seamen that someone felt he had to sing it. Other singers from New England and eastern Canada set the same poem to tunes they knew, changing them a bit here and there to make a better fit. In the age of newspaper and broadside poetry, talented singers did this frequently. What I've tried to do with this album is to keep a balance of my own.
Songs deal in emotion.
Some of the songs here glorify warfare. To perform the songs is to risk doing that. At the same time, wars past are a reality. They have shaped the lives and values of those involved, the political systems that waged them, and the futures of societies. The songs tell us something about all of that.