Far-away oceans, perilous storms, bold explorers, bloodthirsty pirates and treasures hidden on mysterious islands – but likewise the hopes and the fears of friends, lovers and families left back home on dry land – have made for fascinating and evocative stories since the day men caught a glimpse of the deep blue sea.
But there’s more to the ocean’s fascination than just stories and myths. It also spawned its very own kind of music: the Shanties – songs of the wind and the waves, of hard work on the seven seas, of romantic buccaneers and brutal skippers harrying their crews to the marrow.

In this book you’ll find a collection of shanties known and loved all over the world, arranged for easy Ukulele in standard C tuning (G-C-E-A). Of course, there’s „classics“ like Banks of Sacramento, Blow the man down or What shall we do with the drunken sailor, but you’ll also encounter some songs not as common and maybe some you might never have heard before.

All songs in musical notation with chord symbols plus melody TAB – you don’t have to read music to start playing right away!
Whether you want to pick the melody, strum the chords or just need the complete lyrics: you’ll find everything you need on these pages. And if you don’t know how to play a particular chord, don’t worry: each song features easy-to-read chord diagrams, too.
For reference, there’s a handy appendix listing all the chords used in this book plus a selection of easy strumming patterns you can use to accompany songs.

Songs

1. A drop of Nelson’s blood
2. All for me grog
3. A sailor and his true love
4. Banks of Sacramento
5. Banks of the Ohio
6. Blow the man down
7. Blow the wind southerly
8. Boney was a warrior
9. Boston harbor
10. (Bound for) South Australia
11. Bound for the Rio Grande
12. Bully in the alley
13. Cape Cod girls
14. Dundee whalers (Balena)
15. Essequibo river
16. Eternal Father, Strong to Save
17. Goodbye, fare thee well
18. Good night, ladies
19. Handsome Molly
20. Harbour Grace
21. Haul away, boys
22. Jack the Sailor (Jackie Monroe)
23. John Kanaka
24. Lowlands away
25. Maggie May
26. Miss Lucy Long
27. Molly Malone
28. My Bonnie lies over the ocean
29. New York girls
30. On board of the Kangaroo
31. Paddy lay back
32. Roll, Alabama, roll
33. Rowler Bowler
34. Rule, Britannia
35. Sailor on the deep blue sea
36. Santiana (Across the plains of Mexico)
37. Shenandoah
38. Spanish ladies
39. The bottle-o
40. The coast of High Barbaree
41. The dead horse
42. The flying dutchman
43. The Forsaken Mermaid
44. The Glendy Burk
45. The John B. sails
46. The mermaid
47. The Shanty Boy on the Big Eau Claire
48. What shall we do with the drunken sailor
49. Whip Jamboree
50. Whiskey Johnny

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