Up Anchor for Home Boys

DESCRIPTION: "Up anchor for home, boys, our cruise is complete, The billows are dancing our good ship to greet, Far away... Smiles a home of bliss in the land of the west." Other lands have their pleasures, but there is nothing like returning home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1854 (Journal of the Vernon)
KEYWORDS: sailor travel return home
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, p. 117, "Up Anchor for Home Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #27520
NOTES [119 words]: In a small way, this song perhaps indicates the continuity of history and of folk song. According to Huntington, the master of the Vernon on the voyage in which this song was taken down, was Luther Little. I assume that this is the man for whom the schooner Luther Little was named, and it was the story of the Luther Little and the Hesper that inspired Lois Lyman's modern song "Wiscasset Schooners." (One of the very few modern songs that I actually sing; it's a very effective story of the ships' sad fate.) Incidentally, it's worth googling "wiscasset schooners"; there are a lot of interesting photos out there. Some of those sites might have more about Luther Little the man; I haven't checked. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: HGam117

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography