"Barrett's Privateers" | ||||
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Song by Stan Rogers | ||||
from the album Fogarty's Cove | ||||
Released | 1976 | |||
Recorded | September 23–24, 1976 | |||
Genre | Sea shanty, folk song | |||
Length | 4:18 | |||
Label | Barn Swallow | |||
Songwriter(s) | Stan Rogers | |||
Producer(s) | Paul Mills | |||
Fogarty's Cove track listing | ||||
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"Barrett's Privateers" is a modern folk song in the style of a sea shanty, written and performed by Canadian musician Stan Rogers, having been inspired after a song session with the Friends of Fiddler's Green at the Northern Lights Festival Boréal in Sudbury, Ontario. Although Barrett, the Antelope and other specific instances mentioned in the song are fictional, "Barrett's Privateers" is full of many authentic details of privateering in the late 18th century.
The song was released on the album Fogarty's Cove in 1976 and has since gained popularity as a drinking song, with cover versions by many bands. The song makes use of mixed meter, regularly switching back and forth from 4/4 to 5/4 time, which is unusual for a sea shanty, as they are traditionally sung in a strict, unchanging meter. It is regarded as one of the Royal Canadian Navy's unofficial anthems, the unofficial anthem of Atlantic Canada and also often heard sung at many Atlantic universities including Mount Saint Vincent University, Saint Mary's, Dalhousie, Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of King's College, and University of New Brunswick.
"Barrett's Privateers" is sung from the point of view of a young fisherman who enlisted on Elcid Barrett's ill-fated Antelope. The Antelope is described as the "scummiest vessel [he'd] ever seen", and the song describes the many faults of the decrepit sloop.
After describing the initial voyage to Jamaica seeking American merchantmen and the problems with the Antelope, the unnamed narrator sings about how they finally found one, loaded down with gold. Unfortunately, the Antelope's main-mast is knocked down with one volley from the American vessel, and Barrett is killed. The truck of the mainmast "carrie[s] off both [the narrator's] legs" leaving him a broken man.