So Handy

DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "Handy, me boys, so handy!" The song tells of how the good crew came together: "You've got your advance and to sea you must go, Handy... Around Cape Horn through frost and snow, Handy..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1869
KEYWORDS: shanty ship
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Doerflinger-SongsOfTheSailorAndLumberman, p. 12, "So Handy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, p. 76, "So Handy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 142-143, "So Handy, My Boys, So Handy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 479-484, "Handy, Me Boys," "Hand O'er Hand" (3 texts, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 357-361]
Sharp-EnglishFolkChanteys, XLII, p. 48, "So Handy" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doe012 (Partial)
Roud #814
RECORDINGS:
Richard Maitland, "So Handy, Me Boys, So Handy" (AFS, 1939; on LC27)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Handy, Me Girls
NOTES [65 words]: "On Shanties," article in E(neas) S(weetland) Dallas, editor, Once a Week, New Series, Number 31, August 1, 1868 (published by Bradbury and Evans and available on Google Books), p. 93, gives a verse,
Oh shake her up , and away we'll go,
So handy, my girls, so handy;
Up aloft from down below,
So handy, my girls, so handy.
Presumably it is related to this song even though no plot survives.
Last updated in version 6.6
File: Doe012

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