Fire Marengo

"Fire Marengo" began a cotton-screwing shanty, originating in the southern United States in the early 19th century among stevedores working in the ports. One of the earliest written examples of the song is found in English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse's *Letters from Alabama*, published in 1855 but written during a visit to Alabama in 1838. In his book *Twenty Years Before the Mast* (1890), former sailor Charles Erskine recalls the song being sung in New Orleans in the 1840s.

Like many shanties, countless versions of the lyrics exist, some bordering on nonsensical, and it often swaps floating verses with other shanties such as "Sally Brown" and "General Taylor".

### Factoids

The meaning and origin of the word "Marengo" have been the subject of much speculation and debate. Gosse gives the titular phrase as "fire the ringo", while Erskine gives it as as "fire maringo"; other versions render the word as "Morengo" or "my ringo". Some have suggested a link to the Battle of Marengo, an Italian victory for Napoleon in 1800, while others theorize the word might have been slang for a black dockworker, based on its meaning as a type of dark brown or gray fabric or the color thereof, but no known evidence supports either of these theories.

Stan Hugill credits the word as being of Irish origin, citing allegedly "numerous" Irish folk songs but only giving a single example (which, it is believed, he may have written himself). Hugill's word origins are often suspect.

One interesting possibility, put forward by a poster on Mudcat Cafe, is a potential connection to Major Samuel Ringgold, an artillery officer who served with Zachary Taylor (of General Taylor fame). Prior to Ringgold's death in 1846, his artillery troops were known to sing a song called "Fire Away". "Fire Marengo" does appear to bear some relation to General Taylor, and verses are often shared or swapped between the two songs.

### Lyrics

These lyrics are based on the version performed by the Longest Johns on their livestreams.

>
> Lift him up and carry him along
>
> (Fire Marengo, fire away!)
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> Stow him down where he belong
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> (Fire Marengo, fire away!) [continues throughout]
>
>
>
> Ease him down and let him lay
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> Screw him in and there he'll stay
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>
>
> Stow him in his hole below
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> And stay he must but then he'll go
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>
>
> When I get back to Liverpool Town
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> I'll cast a line to little Sally Brown
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>
>
> Oh, Sally, she's a pretty little craft
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> She's sharp to the fore with a rounded aft
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>
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> I'll haul her high and I'll haul her low
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> I'll bust her blocks and away we'll go
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>
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> Screw that cotton, screw it down
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> Let's get the hell from Hilo town
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>
>
>

### Recordings

#### YouTube Videos

* Underwhelming pirates with our singing | Open Crewsing in Sea of Thieves

#### Full Band Streams

* TLJ & Friends! | Natalie Holmes (27 Nov 2019)
* TLJ Christmas Party!! (18 Dec 2019)
* (New Merch) I'm Goin' Off the Rails on a Crazy Stream (14 Oct 2020)
* Boulevard of Broken Streams (17 Feb 2021)
* Amazing Technicolor Stream-coat!! (7 Jul 2021)
* Stream me up Scotty! (23 Aug 2022)
* A Midsummer Nights Stream (5 Jul 2023)

#### Gaming Streams

* Sail & Sing! Lets get damp and sing shanties! - 08/06/2020
* Sea of Sings! - 05/10/2020
* DROPS! Sea of Sings! with BehavingBeardly! SHANT! - 30/10/2020
* Sea of Sings! with Captain\_Falcore! SHANT! - 2/11/2020
* All aboard the shant bus... I mean boat... I mean ship - 20/11/2020
* Sea of Sings for War Child - 30/05/2022

1. ↑ https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63103#4057178
2. ↑ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Twenty\_Years\_Before\_the\_Mast/yTBPAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=maringo
3. ↑ https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63103#2882229