Carry Him To the Burying Ground (General Taylor, Walk Him Along Johnny)

DESCRIPTION: Pulling shanty. Internal chorus: "Walk him along, John, Carry him along... Carry him to the burying ground." Refrain: "Way-ay-ay you storm and blow (you Stormy)...." Some texts refer to General Taylor, others to Dan O'Connell or Old Stormy.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EnglishFolkChanteys)
KEYWORDS: shanty burial battle floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain West Indies
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 78-80, "Walk Me Along, Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEb, pp. 72-73]
Sharp-EnglishFolkChanteys, XXXIII, pp.38-39, "General Taylor" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GENTAYLR
Roud #216
RECORDINGS:
Martin Bartlett, "General Taylor" (Piotr-Archive #80, recorded 09/10/2021, a rather noisy pub recording)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Stormalong" (lyrics)
cf. "Dig My Grave With a Silver Spade" (lyrics)
cf. "Deep Blue Sea (II)" (lyrics)
cf. "Santy Anno" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Walk Him Along, John
NOTES [77 words]: This is recognized much more by its tune than by its verses, which float freely. The most obvious source is "Stormalong" (which shares so much with some versions of this song that Roud lumps them), but there are also "silver spade" lyrics from "Dig My Grave With a Silver Spade" or "Deep Blue Sea (II)"; lyrics about General Taylor from "Santy Anno" or something similar, and one or another Daniel O'Connell song. There are probably others I haven't noticed. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: Hugi078

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