The Sloop John B
For Father's week on the Seasons of the Ukulele, I dug out an old recording of my Dad singing this classic old sea song and added some harmony vocals on the choruses. It was quite an emotional ride, I can tell you.
Dad died back in 2005 and I hadn't heard the tapes since then.
It was amazing to hear his great nasal twang again. Thanks goodness for modern technology!
PS I learned a lot about Sloops when researching the background to this song. Apparently the image we ahve of pirates using great lumbering "Man of Wars" is quite off the mark. They nearly all used Sloops, which were smaller, faster and more manoeuvrable. There was rarely a boarding as seen in Hollywood movies, since they'd have had to scramble up onto the deck of the larger ships some metres above their down decks.