Port of Dreams Song Information and Liner Notes Reviews | Lyrics   The Saltpetre Shanty, 3:06 Tow Rope Girls, 4:28 Inside Every Sailor, 4:00 Roulez, 3:30 Heave, Boys, Away, 1:10 The Gallant Frigate Amphitrite, 5:23 Three Bourrées, 3:27 Harbo & Samuelson, 6:57 The Clumsy Lover, 4:07 John Damaray, 1:47 The Female Rambling Sailor, 4:54 Hooker John, 1:24 Port of Dreams, 5:11 including: Bransle De Bourgogne, George Sands, Last Chance …There's one port I've never sighted out of all the ports there be: It's a place a feller talked of as was shipmates once with me. …An' this feller said the drinks there are the best a man could find. An' a sailor's always welcome, an' the girls are always kind, …An' the days are never scorchin' an' the nights are never hot, In that port he used to yarn of with the name I've clean forgot. An' I'll never fetch that harbour, but it's maybe for the best, For I daresay if I found it it'd be like all the rest, An' I like to think it's waitin', waitin' all the while for me, With the red wine an' the white wine an' the dancin' an' the spree… C. Fox Smith In our view, one sign of an exceptional song or tune is its ability to be played in a variety of styles and approaches while maintaining its inherent quality. Many classical themes have withstood the translation into pop songs or rock music, and ethnic folk melodies have been turning up in classical music for many years. We have taken songs and tunes that we like and given them a twist in our own direction. These songs all have a nautical theme. Five of them are actual “shanties”, or work songs. Heave, Boys, Away and Hooker John are sung unaccompanied in the traditional style, John Damaray adds guitar, while The Salpetre Shanty and the French shanty, Roulez go all out with instruments. Though not truly shanties, The Gallant Frigate Amphitrite and The Female Rambling Sailor are traditional songs from the age of sail that might have been sung during sailors' leisure time aboard ship. On to the more contemporary songs. In 1920, C. Fox Smith (a female rambling sailor, herself) wrote the words to The Tow Rope Girls which William wed to the melody of another traditional song, Queen Bungle Rye. We first heard the true saga of Harbo & Samuelson from its author Jerry Bryant at Mystic Seaport's Festival of the Sea in 1989 and had to have it. Inside Every Sailor was written by nautical songwriter extraordinaire, Tom Lewis. In a 1990's update of the folk tradition, our friend Bob Walser sent us the words to Roulez via fax machine. Because of Felicia's recent conversion to hurdy-gurdyism, he included some suitable music, amoung which we found the The Three Bourrées and the set we call Port of Dreams. Quite recently we learned that amoung these &quo;traditional" tunes were some contemporary composed melodies. The first tune in Three Bourrées is a version of a melody by Pierre Imbert and the tune Last Chance is by Nigel Eaton. We never heard the original versions of these and our own interpretations grew in the playing. The Clumsy Lover was written by Canadian bagpiper Neil Dickie. It came to us by way of a Saint Patrick's Day gig in Seattle, when a kilted piper played it for us. Again, our version varies quite a bit from the original. Enjoy! Produced by William Pint & Felicia Dale Recorded at OMB Studios, Port Orchard, WA., Engineered by Rob Folsom Executive Producer Annette Brigham Cover art “Vielle-à-Voile” by W. Pint & F. Dale Photo by Dale Blindheim Graphic design by Adrienne Robineau The poem “Port o' Dreams” by C. Fox Smith from “Ships and Folks“ 1920 Houghton Mifflin Co. John Peekstok appears courtesy of “Telynor” Tom Lewis appears courtesy of Self-Propelled Music, and Flying Fish Records Port of Dreams, a Self Release Record #IEZ 734 ©1991 William Pint & Felicia Dale Felicia Dale vocals, hurdy-gurdy, penny whistles; bodhran, keyboards on Inside Every Sailor William Pint vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, mandola, keyboards on The Gallant Frigate Amphitrite Tom Lewis harmony vocals John Peekstok synthesizer, bodhran, dumbek, snare drum Jill Kennon clarinet on Three Bourrées Special thanks to: John &Anna Peekstok for advice and support, Annette Brigham for making it possible, Adrienne Robineau for graphic expertise, Tom &Lynn Lewis for more than we can begin to mention, Lori Marmon for all that hospitality, not to mention the cats! Dan Maher for abuse and encouragement, …and you for not making bootleg copies of our recordings. We simply couldn't continue making music or even survive without CD and tape sales. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!