Kaitlyn Leister
Associate Arts & Culture Editor
Back in 2021, there was a rise in a popular sea shanty-style song that made its way around the internet. The song “Wellerman,” gained multiple covers all over the internet in that short amount of time before it was on to the next trend. The song just appeared on my music feed and I gave it another listen to see if it was as good as it was over three years ago.
The popular cover by Nathan Evans is a nice tune to sway your head to, the beat being kept by a constant percussion instrument. I was led back down the rabbit hole of sea shanties and got hooked on songs I had not listened to in years. The Decemberists’ “Mariner’s Revenge Song” and The Longest Johns’ “Santiana,” “Spanish Ladies,” and “Haul Away Joe,” are some of my personal favorites in the genre.
Sea Shanties are formatted as one person sings and a group sings back in response, traditionally being used as working songs. The range of the songs is vast, with some being happy, sad, hopeful, or even a warning. Some play instruments to accompany them, others perform them a capella. These songs have been kept alive for decades, if not centuries, being kept alive through oral tradition.
It is diversity in the songs that is exactly why sea shanties should make a comeback again. They are just nice to tap your foot or sway along to; getting stuck in your head for a few days. They are great to listen to when doing school work, exercising, driving around, and belting the lyrics with your friends at the top of your lungs. Artists today should consider writing new tales of the seas for the modern audience. Just because the seas might not be sailed today does not mean they cannot be written today. A modern tale of voyages and sea beasts would be great for the music industry, and it is open for any genre of artist to bring something new.
A challenge between friends to write a song together, musical rivals making sea shanty diss tracks about each other, the possibilities are endless. Sea shanties are just a perfect genre to bring back into the spotlight and they need a resurgence now more than ever.