Farewell to Tarwathie
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Attributed to George Scroggie near Aberdeen in or around 1850, this song was popularized by Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd. Lloyd credits the song to Scroggie in the liner notes for his album Leviathan, saying of it:
The stereotype of the oldtime whalemen is a hairychested ring-tailed roarer, hard worker, hard drinker, hard fighter. No doubt the description fitted many of them; nevertheless they often showed a strong liking for gentle meditative songs. Perhaps alone among all the songs on this record, Farewell to Tarwathie was made not by a whaleman, but by a miller, George Scroggie of Federate, near Aberdeen, around the middle of the 19th century. The tune is an old favourite, best known in connection with the song called "Green Bushes".
Lyrics
These lyrics are based on the version performed by the Longest Johns in their livestreams; the original lyrics can be found here.
Farewell to Tarwathie, adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimond, I bid you farewell
For I'm bound out for Greenland and ready to sail
In the hopes to find riches in hunting the whale
Farewell to my comrades, for a while we must part
And likewise the dear lass who first won my heart
For the cold coast of Greenland my love will not chill
And the longer my absence, more loving she'll feel
Our ship is well riggéd and ready to sail
And the crew, they are anxious to follow the whale
Where the icebergs do fall and stormy winds blow
And the land and the ocean is covered with snow
The cold coast of Greenland is barren and bare
No seed time nor harvest is ever known there
And the birds here sing sweetly in mountain and dale
But there's no bird in Greenland to sing for the whale
There is no habitation for a man to live there
And the king of that country is the fierce Greenland bear
And there'll be no temptation to tarry long there
With our ship bumper full, we'll homeward repair
Farewell to Tarwathie, adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimond, I bid you farewell
For we're bound out for Greenland and ready to sail
In the hopes to find riches in hunting the whale
Recordings
Streaming/Purchase
YouTube Videos
Full Band Streams
- The Longest Johns Impromptu Singing Stream! (17 Nov 2018)
- Surviving the first month of 2019 with The Longest Johns!!! (New donation system) (30 Jan 2019)
- The Longest Johns and Friends, March. w/Sam Brookes (22 Mar 2019)
- TLJ & Friends! | Natalie Holmes (27 Nov 2019)
- Live Stream, All aboard the Good Ship Valentine(ish) with The Longest Johns (19 Feb 2020)
- Boulevard of Broken Streams (17 Feb 2021)
- Nightmare on Elm Stream (27 Oct 2021)
- Blue Stream of Death! (29 Jun 2022)
- Sega Streamcast (15 Feb 2023)
- Stream (6 Mar 2024)
- Streamballs (29 Jul 2026)
Chill Streams
Gaming Streams
- Sail and Sing! Sea of Thieves Stream - 18/05/2020
- Sea of Thieves Tall Tales Marathon for Charity Part 1 (24 Jun 2020) - Note: 20 secs of bad audio distortion starting 4:05:07
- Sing! Sail! Support friends! - 18/09/2020
- Game Dev stream! Yarrs for everyone! - 05/02/2021