De Hamborger Veermaster (German: Der Hamburger Viermaster, English: The Hamburg Four-master) is a
sea shanty
A sea shanty, shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ...
sung in
Low German
Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...
, presumably first published between 1850 and 1890. It is partly in English, and that part uses lines of the shanty "The Banks of the Sacramento".
Lyrics
Ick heff mol een Hamborger Veermaster sehn,
De Masten so scheef as den Schipper sien Been,
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain:''
Dat Deck weer vun Isen, vull Dreck un vull Smeer.
"Rein Schipp" weer den Oll'n sin scheunstes Pläseer.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain:''
De Kombüs weer vull Lüüs, de Kajüt weer vull Schiet,
De Beschüten, de leupen von sülvens all wech.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain:''
Dat Soltfleesch weer greun, un de Speck wör vull Modn.
Un Köm geef dat blots an Wiehnachtsobend.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain:''
Un wulln wi mol seiln, ick sech ji dat nur,
Denn lööp he dree vorut un veer wedder retur.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain:''
Un as dat Schipp, so weer ok de Kaptein,
De Lüüd för dat Schipp, de weern ok blots schangheit.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain:''
I once saw a four-master from Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
.
Her masts were as crooked as the skipper's legs.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain:''
The deck was of iron, full of dirt and grease.
"Clean the ship" was the captain's most liked pleasure.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain''
The galley
A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...
was full of lice, the cabin was full of shit.
The hardtack
Hardtack (or hard tack) is a type of dense Cracker (food), cracker made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Hardtack is inexpensive and long-lasting. It is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyage ...
walked away all by itself.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain''
The salted meat
Salting is the preservation of food with dry edible salt. was green, the bacon was full of maggots
Köm was only there at Christmas Eve.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain''
And if we wanted to sail, I merely say,
She moved three fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an international standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally accepted non-SI unit. H ...
ahead and four back again.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain''
And like the ship, so the captain was,
The men for the ship were all shanghaied.
To my hoo day, hoo day, ho – ho – ho – ho!
''Refrain''
Melody
% ''Knurrhan'' (1932), vi
Der "Hamborger Veermaster"
\language "deutsch"
\header
\layout
global =
chordNames = \chordmode
melody = \new Voice = "melody" \relative c''
links = \relative c
verse = \new Lyrics \lyricmode
\score
\score
Source
["De Hamborger Veermaster" in ''Knurrhan'' (1932), vi]
Altländer Shanty-Chor
/ref>
See also
* List of songs about Hamburg
References
External links
*
* {{Wikisourcelang-inline, 1=, 2=Hamborger Veermaster
Sea shanties
Songs about boats
Culture in Hamburg
Volkslied