Wings of a Goney, The

DESCRIPTION: "If I had the wings of a goney I would fly to my native home." "Whaling has charms for the young and green hands," but they soon wish to be elsewhere. After four years whaling in Greenland the agent says the singer has "not earned a single red cent"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1859 (Huntington-SongsTheWhalemenSang)
KEYWORDS: money ordeal shanty sailor sea ship whale whaler
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-SongsTheWhalemenSang, pp. 40-41, "The Wings of a Goney" (1 text)
Roud #2011
RECORDINGS:
A.L. Lloyd, "Weary Whaling Grounds" (on Lloyd9)
NOTES [84 words]: Huntington-SongsTheWhalemenSang: "The goney is a bird of the albatross family. Today American sailors in the Pacific call it the "gooney bird."
Huntington's source is from the log of the Ocean Rover out of New Bedford (p. 325). - BS
Round lumps this with "Calm," found on p. 55 of Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, p. 55. But the only line they have in common is the very first, and even that is not identical. I'm splitting them until and unless a third version shows up that links them. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: HunW0401

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