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Letter to the editor: There’s a lot to learn from each sea song
Old tunes like ‘Wellerman,’ newly popular because of TikTok, are performed by a variety of artists in Maine.
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Bennett Konesni sings a sea shanty while raising a sail on his ketch in Belfast. Konesni started singing sea shanties aboard a schooner in Penobscot Bay and has since traveled the world studying work songs. The app TikTok helped sea shanties surge into the mainstream.
Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press
The recently famous TikTok rendition of “Soon May the Wellerman Come” is considered to be a ballad, which tells a story. A shanty is sung to help sailors keep time during particular tasks. Nonetheless, the “Wellerman” is a catchy tune that romanticizes seagoing life. The ship in the song was a whaler, which is indicated by the term “tonguing,” which (without going into details), refers to the butchering of a whale done on board. It is possible to visit the last surviving 19th-century w