On Board of the Kangaroo also known as On Board the Kangaroo, Aboard the Kangaroo, Good Ship Kangaroo and Bristol Sea Shanty is generally regarded as an English shanty.[1] It was composed by Londoner Harry Clifton, reviewed in the press in July 1864, and published as sheet music in 1865.[2][3] The song is sung from the perspective of a mariner who worked on a ship called the Kangaroo, which was probably SS Kangaroo, an 1853 Scottish cargo steamer that foundered in a gale off Rhoscolyn, Wales in January 1862.[4][5] It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 925.[6]
Notable recordings
edit- Elizabeth Cronin - The Songs of Elizabeth Cronin, Irish Traditional Singer: The Complete Song Collection (2000)[7]
- Burl Ives - Songs of Ireland (1958)[1]
- Nic Jones - In Search of Nic Jones (1998)
- Planxty - After the Break (1979)
- Tony Rose - Bare Bones (1999)[8]
- Waldorf String Band - Celtic Celebration (2014)[9]
References
edit- ^ a b "On Board the Kangaroo". www.contemplator.com. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
- ^ Baxter, John (12 November 2022). "On board o' the Kangaroo". Folk Song and Music Hall. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ^ Clifton, Harry (1865). "On board of the Kangaroo". London: Hopwood & Crew. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ^ Salto, Cattia (2018-04-26). "Aboard the kangaroo/The Good Ship Kangaroo". Terre Celtiche Blog (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-10-26.
- ^ "Iron screw steamer Kangaroo, built Smith & Rodger, Govan, 1853". University of Liverpool. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ^ "Search". www.vwml.org. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
- ^ Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, ed. (2000). The Songs of Elizabeth Cronin, Irish Traditional Singer: The Complete Song Collection. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 1- 85182-259-3.
- ^ "On Board the Kangaroo (Roud 925; G/D 6:1211)". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
- ^ The Good Ship Kangaroo, 2014-11-17, retrieved 2022-10-26