Brian, I feel like I should be hoisting a pint at a pub somewhere. I don't think we've ever had anything of that genera posted before. Cool little ditty - fun!
Captain Broke of the Shannon was a genius and far ahead of his time with regard to the science of Naval gunnery, something mentioned only in passing in the brief synopsis.
Ontario_RIC_fan wrote:They say that Broke was one of the inspirations for the Jack Aubrey Character in Patrick O'brien's series of books.
I researched the song quite extensively at the time I recorded it, I even have a book all about the naval engagement...
Can anyone identify what STEELEYE SPAN song the arrangement is swiped from?
B
Interesting. I've read all the books, and O'Brian made Aubrey a cousin of Phillip Broke in the story. Aubrey's even aboard when the Shannon defeats the Chesapeake.
Nice! I LOVE Scottish and Irish traditional music and your song is great cousin to the genre. The British revivalists Steeleye Span, Anna Briggs, John Rensworth, etc. rarely get the credit they deserve. So nice to hear this as I start my day.
Nice, Brian! Aside from the detail to history, and this being a well-told story, I have to commend you on the vocals, especially the harmonies in the a capella intro.
I have a severe head-cold, so maybe there's something off kilter with my hearing, but the stereo spectrum has an odd phased effect where everything sounds like it surrounds me, and nothing's actually positioned in the middle. Is that an intended effect, or am I truly F'd in the head?
Lastly, I'm not familiar with all the British Revivalist bands, but this gives me a feel of The Pogues. Like Tom described, I definitely feel taken to a Pub when listening to this.
This recording is just from a work cassette... So it isn't really a final mix.
The 12 track masters are alas long gone. Only about five of the songs from these sessions were ever properly mixed, (They ended up being released on a limited release cassette)... The other 8 or nine songs were never finished or properly mixed, something that I severely regret, as a number of the musicians that played on these sessions are now deceased... This was precisely when I crashed out of the music business, over the frustration of not being able to finish this project, and a feeling that musically I was treading too close to the work of Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers. (And was being called on that by his family and fans)...
I transfered to my computer hard drive all of the work cassettes about 5 years ago.. There is another mix of this track (which includes Octave mandolin played by the noted Canadian guitar builder Grit Laskin), but the vocals are not as clear so this is my preferred version to share with the world.
THe song the arrangement is swiped from is ALL AROUND MY HAT.. (starts acapella and then the band comes crashing in). The fiddle tune "Captain Broke's Hornpipe" is original too, although the chord changes come from a Scottish Bag pipe tune called THE ATHOLL HIGHLANDERS.
I bought my JG 610 for $500 US so that I could play a RIC on these sessions, it came from Houston Texas as I recall... The rest of the album was mainly acoustic, although I did work on a very Beatley sounding tribute to John Lennon called WHEN JOHNNIE WAS FORTY....
Yes indeed June 1, 1813 was the date of the battle....
It also was 20 years ago the opening night of HOW COULD YOU MRS DICK, a play I produced about a nortoriuous murder - The Evelyn Dick case - which happened here in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario in 1946.
I also wrote a song about another war of 1812 naval engagement called THE BURLINGTON RACES, about the action in September 1813 between the sqaudrons of American Captain Issac Chanacey and Sir James Yeo which happened at my end of Lake Ontario.
Well this is a rollicking, swaggering, elbow-bending number from the finest of traditions and given a modern twang by you and your friend. The greatest compliment I can give a number like this is that I wanted a beer to go with it. You've not only caught Steeleye Span but fairly outdone Paul Kantner at his secret game. too.
You've not only caught Steeleye Span but fairly outdone Paul Kantner at his secret game. too. 
