Here are some lists of songs we sing, organised by category. The categories:
- Songs of the sea
- Train shants
- River shants
- Land shants
- Irish songs
- Australian songs
- Songs with Birds in them
- Love songs (valenshants)
- Scottish songs
- She-shants
- Limited range / easy to sing
- Death and Sadness slow
- Death and Sadness more upbeat
- Drinking Shants
- Goodbye songs
- Light-hearted, hopeful or funny songs
- Soulful Americana vibes / Bluesy songs
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
Songs of the sea
- Way me Susiannah
- Brisbane Harbour
- Marching Inland
- Hoist up that thing
- Bye Bye my Roseanna
- Old Maui
- Running down to Cuba
- Eye on the Weather
- The Islander (Newfoundland)
- Bully in the Alley
- Roll Alabama Roll
- Pay me my money down
- Tow ropes
- Whup Jamboree
- My Johnny’s gone what shall I do?
- Golden Vanity
- Good Ship Ragamuffin
- The Worst Old Ship (waiting for the day)
- Back to Broome
- Moby Duck
- Mainsail Haul
- Nancy Lee (played his ukelele as the ship went down)
- Bones in the Ocean
- All coiled down
- Padstow Farewell (it’s our sailing time)
- Downed and Drowned
- The Mermaid (ocean waves do roll)
- Fiddlers Green
- Blood Red Roses
- Water is wide
- Fish in the sea (windy weather boys)
- Wave over wave
- Le capitaine de St Malo
- John Paul Jones (set feet row)
- Wee dark engine room
- One more pull boys
- Randy Dandy O
- Whisky Johnny!
- Santiana
- Wellerman
- Rio Grande
- Oak and Ash and Thorn
- Molasses Rum
- Being a pirate
- Paddy Lay back
- Sailor’s Prayer (send down a dove)
- Keep hauling
- Little Fishes
- Molly Malone
- Skye Boat Song
- Jamaican Farewell
- Banana Boat Song
- A-rovin’
- Rolling up rolling down (we all get drunk in Tilbury town)
- Strike the Bell
- Captain O’Rourke
- This is a Shanty for Singing
- Haul and Drag
- Bound for South Australia
- Row me Bully Boys
- Mary Ellen Carter
- Haul away Joe
- Ocean Liner
- The Whale
- The Essex
- Fall Down Billy O’Shea
- Bold Riley-O
- Venezuala to Trinidad
- Heave away (me Johnnies/Jollies)
- Spanish Ladies (caution some language in the originals)
- Leave her Johnny
- The Wreck of the Dandenong
- Chicken on a Raft
- Mingulay Boat song
- Jenny in the Roadstead
- Yo-ho Sebastian
- Leaving of Liverpool
- Travel these Ways
- Bound for Darling Harbour
- Lonesome sea
- Rowing song
- Final Trawl (haul away my laddie o)
- Still I love him
- Shanty Gospel
- Galway bay
- Mollymauk
- Captain of the Dredger
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
Drinking Shants
- Bully in the Alley
- Rye Whiskey
- Whisky Johnny
- Parting Glass
- The humours of whiskey
- Whiskey you’re the devil
- All for me grog
- Irish pub
- We’re only going for one
- Dooley
- Martin (who’s the fool now, fie man fie)
- Rambling rover
- Tom Burleigh’s dead
- I never learnt to drive
- Fall down Billy O’Shea
- Drink up your cider
- Venezuela to Trinidad
- Rye whiskey
- I’m a rover seldom sober
- beer beer beer (charlie mopps)
- Finnegan’s wake
- Beer is great
- River driver (eat when I’m hungry, drink when I’m dry)
- Here’s a health to the company
- Bootleg Gin
- Humours of whiskey
- All of the hard days are gone
- Oh Mollases Rum
- Doon in the wee room
- Sailor’s Prayer
- What shall we do with the drunken sailor
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
Train or Railroad Shants
- New river train
- Old Moke’s picking on a banjo
- Working on the new railroad
- Paddy on the railway
- On the Railroad (Frisco Bay)
- Johnny come down to Hilo
- Big Rock Candy Mountain
- Linin’ Track
- MTA (he never returned)
River Shants
- Yangstse River
- Shenandoah
- Rolling up rolling down (all get drunk in Tilbury town)
- River driver
- Long Hot Summer (Illinois River)
- Shawnee Town
Land Shants
- Marching Inland
- All of the train /railroad songs listed above
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
Easy to sing
- (Who’s gonna dig these) Graves
- Pretty work / Sammy’s gone away
- Lampshade on
- Shanty Gospel
Irish songs
- Will ye Go Lassie go
- I’ll tell me Ma
- Fields of Athenry
- Queen of All Argyll
- Belfast Mill (weave and spin)
- Fall down Billy O’Shea
- Red is the Rose
- Humours of Whiskey
- Molly Malone (cockles and mussels) (Cindy’s rewrite here)
- Paddy Lay Back
- Girl with the Black Velvet Band
- Water is wide
- Dooley
- We’re only going for one
- Irish Eyes
- Star of the County Down
- Irish Pub
- All for me Grog
- Mary Mack
- McPherson’s Rant
- Irish Jaunting car
- Tanderegee
- Parting glass
- 1845
- Belfast Mountains
- Finnegan’s Wake
- Old / Auld Triangle
- Butcher Boy
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
Scottish songs
- Donald where’s your trousers
- Doon in the wee room
- McPherson’s Rant (sae wantingly…)
- Drunken Scotsman
- Campbeltown Loch
- Mist-covered mountains of home
- Roll Northumbria Roll
- Skye Boat song
- Eriskay Love Lilt
She-shants
- De Clisson
- Molly Malone (Cindy’s version here)
- A-piratin‘ (Cindy original)
- (I used to work in) London Town
- The Miner’s Washing
- Maggie May
- Will ye go Lassie go
- I’ll tell me Ma
- Katy Cruel
- Savage Daughter
- Twiddles
- The Mermaid (ocean waves do roll)
- The Holy Ground
- Red-haired Mary
- Charlie is my Darling
- Jinny Bingham’s Ghost
- Irish Eyes
- The Witches and the whales
- Jenny in the Roadstead
- Queen of all Argyll
- Eriskay Love Lilt
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
Goodbye songs
- Travel these ways
- Parting Glass
- Mingulay boat song
- Old Maui
- All the Good times are past and gone
- Good night song
- One more pull boys
- All of the hard days are gone
- Hard times come again no more
- Fiddler’s Green
- Here’s a health to the company
- Padstow Farewell (it’s our sailing time)
- Bye Bye my Roseanna
Love songs (Valenshants)
- My Johnny’s gone what shall I do
- You are my sunshine
- Ten thousand miles away
- Still I love him
- Lullaby (How long do you want to be loved?)
- Lonesome sea
- Leaving of Liverpool
- Retirement song (man of the land)
- The Year turns round again (like Barleycorn)
- Little Fishes
- Angeline the Baker
- Lowlands Away
- Yo ho Sebastian
- Will ye go Lassie go?
- Jenny in the Roadstead
- The Milkmaid
- I’ll tell me Ma
- Queen of all Argyll
- Little Liz (Eyes) I love you
- Eriskay Love Lilt
- Bye Bye my Roseanna
- These are the things
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
Slow songs about Death and Sadness
- Hang me oh hang me
- Crossing the Bar
- (Bury Me Not ) Lone Prairie
- There ain’t nobody gonna miss me when I’m gone
- See that my grave is kept clean
- No Man’s Land / Green Fields of France
- Three Score and Ten (Grimsby Town)
- One hundred feet
- Old/Auld Triangle
- Shenandoah
- Mist-covered mountains of home
- The Year Turns Round again (like Barleycorn)
- Butcher Boy
- Dream Angus
Faster songs about death and sadness
- Hanging Johnny
- Haul and Drag
- Who’s gonna dig these (graves)
- The Wellerman
- Rye Whiskey
- We’re all gonna die some day nautical version lyrics by Cindy Tonkin (or the original Kasey Chambers song)
- Finnegan’s wake
- Mary Ellen Carter
- Grey Funnel Line (not much chorus)
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
Australian songs
Songs written by Australians, set in Australia or about Australia in some way.
- Bound for South Australia
- All the originals here.
- Back to Broome
- Emu
- Brisbane Harbour
- Hey Rain
- Green Fields of France (Willy McBride)
Songs with birds in them
- Mollymauk
- Sailor’s Prayer
- Moby Duck
- Fields of Athenry
- Skye Boat Song
- Rattlin’ Bog
- Emu
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
Light-hearted, hopeful or funny songs
- London Town
- Dancing with Bears
- All of the Hard Times are gone
- This is a shanty for singing
- Shanty Gospel
- Moby Duck
Soulful Americana vibes / Bluesy songs
- White Collar Holler
- Linin’ Track
- Ain’t Nobody
- Hard times come again no more
- All the good times
- (Who’s gonna dig these) Graves
- Come on up to the house
- Homeward Bound (bind me not to the pasture)
- Byker HIll
- Corn bread and butter beans
- Frisco Bay/On the Railroad
Featured image: some of the Randy Dandy Shanters singing at a wedding on a tall ship on Sydney Harbour.
Left to Right: Clayton Vickery, Robert Boddington, Fergus Miller, Dan Werndly, Dan Schneider.
Go back to the Randy Dandy Shanties Main Page
