"The Ryans and The Pittmans" is a popular

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

. It tells of the romantic entanglements of a sailor named Bob Pittman, and his desire to sail home to finally marry his "sweet Biddy". The song is also known as "We'll Rant and We'll Roar", after the first line of the chorus; however, this is also the name by which some foreign variants are known. It is based on a traditional English capstan shanty, "

Spanish Ladies "Spanish Ladies" (Roud 687) is a traditional British naval song, describing a voyage from Spain to the Downs from the viewpoint of ratings of the Royal Navy. Origins A ballad by the name "Spanish Ladies" was registered in the English Station ...

", which describes headlands sighted on a sailor's homeward voyage through the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. "Spanish Ladies" has a number of variants:

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

whalers sang of " Yankee Whalermen", while their Pacific counterparts sang of Talcuhano Girls. A more landlocked drover's version surfaced in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

as "

Brisbane Ladies "Brisbane Ladies" is an Australian folksong and is one of many adaptations of the traditional British naval song " Spanish Ladies". The version given below is the most commonly sung, but the original mentions Nanango favorably as "that jolly old ...

". Verses 2, 8, 9, and 10 of the Newfoundland version are adapted from that of the whalers; the remainder were composed around 1875 by Henry W. LeMessurier. It was printed in '' Old Songs of Newfoundland'' (1912) by James Murphy. The places mentioned in the song are outports in and around

Placentia Bay Placentia Bay (french: Baie de Plaisance) is a body of water on the southeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It is formed by Burin Peninsula on the west and Avalon Peninsula on the east. Fishing grounds in the bay were used by native people long ...

, Newfoundland. The most famous recent version of the song was recorded by

Great Big Sea Great Big Sea was a Canadian folk rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year Irish, Scot ...

Lyrics

THE RYANS AND THE PITTMANS :''Chorus:'' :''We'll rant and we'll roar like true Newfoundlanders'' :''We'll rant and we'll roar on deck and below'' :''Until we see bottom inside the two sunkers'' :''When straight through the Channel to Toslow we'll go.'' :My name it is Robert, they call me Bob Pittman :I sail in the ''Ino'' with Skipper Tom Brown :I'm bound to have Polly or Biddy or Molly :As soon as I'm able to plank the cash down. :I'm a son of a sea cook, and a cook in a trader :I can dance, I can sing, I can reef the mainboom, :I can handle a jigger, and cuts a fine figure :Whenever I gets in a boat's standing room. :If the voyage is good, this fall I will do it :I wants two pounds ten for a ring and the priest :A couple of dollars for clean shirts and collars :And a handful of coppers to make up a feast. :There's plump little Polly, her name is Goldsworthy :There's John Coady's Kitty and Mary Tibbo :There's Clara from Brule and young Martha Foley :But the nicest of all is me girl from Toslow. :Farewell and adieu to ye girls of Valen :Farewell and adieu to ye girls in the Cove :I'm bound to the westward, to the wall with the hole in :I'll take her from Toslow the wide world to rove. :Farewell and adieu to ye girls of St. Kryan's :Of

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

and Presque,

Big Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show * ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...

and

Little Bona Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

:I'm bound unto Toslow to marry sweet Biddy :And if I don't do so I'm afraid of her da'. :I've bought me a house from Katherine Davis :A twenty pound bed from Jimmy McGrath :I'll get me a settle, a pot and a kettle :And then I'll be ready for Biddy, hurrah! :O, I brought in the ''Ino'' this spring from the city, :Some rings and gold brooches for the girls in the

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

; :I bought me a case-pipe —- they call it a

meerschaum Sepiolite, also known in English by the German name meerschaum ( , ; ; meaning "sea foam"), is a soft white clay mineral, often used to make tobacco pipes (known as meerschaum pipes). A complex magnesium silicate, a typical chemical formula for ...

—- :It melted like butter upon a hot day. :I went to a dance one night at Fox Harbour, :There were plenty of girls, so nice as you'd wish; :There was one pretty maiden a-chewin' of frankgum :Just like a young kitten a-gnawing fresh fish. :Then here is a health to the girls of Fox Harbour :Of

Oderin Oderin Island is an island in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in western Placentia Bay, located about 30 km northeast of Marystown. Initially recorded as a fishing post of the French and later an outpost of the English, the island ...

and Presque, Crabbes Hole and Brule :Now let ye be jolly, don't be melancholy :I can't marry all or in chokey''chokey:'' Prison
/ref> I'd be. :''We'll rant and we'll roar like true Newfoundlanders'' :''We'll rant and we'll roar on deck and below'' :''Until we see bottom inside the two sunkers'' :''When straight through the Channel to Toslow we'll go.''

Lyrics

Notes

See also