PIQUE LA BALEINE English Version Jim Jarratt October 2020 V 5

Pique La Baleine.... IN ENGLISH! Having greatly enjoyed the superb performance of this traditional french chant de marin by Russian folk supergroup Otava Yo, I got to thinking it would be nice to do a version of this song in English, utilising some of the Anglo- French lyrical crossovers that co-exist in the nautical traditions of both Britain and France. I did not do a translation of the original lyric, as I did some years ago with Tri Martelod, reason being I wanted a song about whaling, which ironically is only found the songs chorus. (the rest of the lyrics in fact don’t talk about whaling at all! - more about having a girl in every port!)) So I looked at Jean Francois De Nantes, Pont De Morlaix, Boney was a Warrior, Greenland Whale Fishery and The Coast of Peru and extrapolated this tale of a whaling expedition out of Whitby, Yorkshire. Perhaps under the command of Captain Scoresby! Enjoy! Jim Jarratt October. 2020.