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The Library Frigates

from From Boston Harbor by Crosscurrents Music

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about

The Gloucester Hornpipe and Clog Society plays an annual reunion concert as a fundraiser for the JP Public Library. For our 35th, the Friends of the JP Library gave us a community award, where we met the subject of this song. The Friends of the East Boston Library preserved and restored a magnificent maritime frieze from the library's main room, painted as a visual history of the Age of Sail.

I said "I want to sing for your ships!" and wrote this song for the opening of the exhibit that welcomed the newly restored paintings back to their new building in East Boston. Every ship on that wall is famous in her own right. Here are their stories.

lyrics

CHORUS:

There [D]is no [G]frigate [D]like a [A]book to [D]bear us [A7]lands away
And the [D]frigates [G]on the [D]library [Bm]wall, they [D]bore me [A7]o’er the [D]spray.

[D]All in the [G]Dirty [D]Thirties in a [G]Boston libra[A7]ry

A [D]wall of [G]ships came [D]sailing [Bm]in to [D]carry [A7]me to [D]sea.
I [D]did my [G]homework [D]‘neath their gaze, I [G]sniffed salt [D]air and [A]tar
Each [D]oil and [G]canvas [Bm]sail was set to [D]carry [A7]me a[D]far.

I crewed the Santa Maria where we knew Columbus well
The Nina and the Pinta, Christoforo’s caravels.
I carried precious cargo for the carracks of Great Spain
And sought the Eastern Indies with Da Gama for his gain.

CHORUS

The Old Armada broke my sword and stripped off my cuirass
Then set me to the galleys in a merchant galleass
I singed the beard of the King of Spain when Dreadnought stole him blind
Then beat the drum for Francis Drake aboard the Golden Hind

I was wrecked aboard Hollandia upon the Scilly Isles
Old Silver Leg he shipped me to New Netherland awhile.
I heard the Clermont whistle running under her own steam
And crossed the pond with Mary, the White Star Line’s new Queen.

CHORUS

I trained my guns on Guerriere aboard Old Ironsides
And thrilled to feel the cannonballs bounce off her oaken hide.
I shipped with Harry, Grace a Dieu, to the Field of the Cloth of Gold
And fought the French on Solent’s shore on the jolie Marie-Rose.

I took command from Ferdinand Magellan of great fame
And brought Vittoria round the Horn through the Straits that bear his name.
I fought Algerian pirates off the coast of Barbaree
And the Red Flag fleet of Chinese junks, the terror of the sea.

CHORUS

I raced with ketch and schooner, learned to fly at fifteen knots
I won the world’s blue ribbon for America, the yacht.
I shipped on clipper, bark, and brig, square-rigger, brigantine
I hoisted topsails, skysails, jibs, t’gallants and lateen.

I swabbed their decks with turpentine until their lacquered brightwork shone
I studied conservation and the history of my home.
I spread my sails the world around, I roamed the seven seas
Then too soon came rolling home to Boston’s libraries.CHORUS

credits

from From Boston Harbor, released June 9, 2022
© Lynn Noel

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Crosscurrents Music Boston, Massachusetts

Lynn Noel brings traditional song and heritage arts online to create community. Lynn has a voice of striking clarity and power, equally at home in rhythmic chanteys and flowing ballads.

Lynn is a respected song session leader on both sides of the Atlantic and the producer and host of the Mermaid's Tavern online folk club. She is currently Program Chair of the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA). ... more

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