Price codeB
World, traditional, folkCatalogue no. 2041
Blood red roses
Music: Trad. arr. Sheena Phillips, Words: Trad.
Voicing: TBB, piano
Performance time approx: 2m 30s
Range T: e – e' / Bar: e – d' / B: c# – c'#
Price code: B
Complexity:
This piece is part of the set "Six sea shanties".
The set also includes:
Blood red roses is a long haul shanty that accompanied the extended heavy work of raising sails. It’s peppered with colourful epithets and alludes to the perils of rounding Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America, where there are strong winds and fierce seas nearly all year round. The rising phrases of the tune act as preparation for the strenuous pulls on the lower-pitched words ‘Go down’.
‘Blood red roses’ may refer to the red uniforms of the British Marines – but the precise origin of the term is unknown.
Our boots and shoes are all in pawn,
Go down, you blood red roses, go down!
It’s flaming drafty round Cape Horn,
Go down, you blood red roses, go down!
Oh, you pinks and posies!
Go down, you blood red roses, go down!
It’s ’round Cape Horn we all must go,
For that is where them whalefish blow.
My dear old mother she said to me,
My dearest son, come home from sea.
Just one more pull and that will do,
For we're the boys to kick her through.