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The earliest sea shanties could be as old as seafaring itself. They tap into the story-sharing impulse of oral literature, which is even older still.
Singing is fun, and it lifted the sailors’ spirits, Mr. Smyth said. The songs also offered a common language for multinational crews.
“This communitarian aesthetic, it really does go back to a very ancient time,” Mr. Smyth said. “When we’re sitting around the campfire, we’re talking about the hunt. We achieve identity through community, through the underlying beat on the drum.” In these ancient storytelling traditions, everyone knew the tale and played a part in telling it.