While it has been confirmed that the band has officially retired, former members Alan Doyle and Séan McCann have continued performing in their own solo careers typically including music from Great Big Sea in their setlists.
The band played its first official concert on March 11, 1993, opening for The Irish Descendants at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Newfoundland. The founding band members included Alan Doyle (vocals, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin), Séan McCann (vocals, bodhrán, guitar, tin whistle), Darrell Power (vocals, bass, guitar, bones), and Bob Hallett (vocals, fiddle, accordion, mandolin, concertina, bouzouki, whistles, bagpipes).
Power, McCann and Hallett had already been playing together in another band. In the winter of 1989, the band, a six-piece with guitar, bass, fiddle, accordion and mandolin played its first show at the Memorial University's winter carnival talent show under the name "Newfoundland Republican Army" or NRA, and won first prize. The band's only other appearance as NRA was later that winter at the university "Grad House". The band then dropped the fiddler, accordion player and the name.
The band found its new name as original bassist Jeff Scott rented an apartment on Rankin Street, St. John's, where the members first met and discussed the formation of the band. As a four-piece, the band first appeared as "Rankin Street" at a little pub in downtown St. John's called "The Rose and Thistle", playing for $100 and beer. They played through Sean McCann's stereo system, as renting a PA would have cost more than the night's earnings. Susan Hickey (guitar and vocals) left the band months later to attend school in Halifax and was replaced by Darrell Power. The band gained much popularity playing such local pubs as Bridget's and Greensleeves. In 1991 Jeff Scott was replaced by Jackie St. Croix on bass. The band released one recording on cassette titled "Rankin Street".
In 1997, the band reached the top ten of the Canadian RPM pop chart with "When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)", a cover of a song by the British folk group Oysterband. They performed at the 1999 Stardust Picnic festival at Historic Fort York, Toronto.
The band won the Entertainer of the Year award at the East Coast Music Awards for every year between 1996 and 2000. In 2001, they decided not to submit their name for nomination in order to allow other bands to compete. They have also been nominated for several Juno Awards, including Group of the Year in 1998, 2005, 2009, and 2011.
Darrell Power retired from Great Big Sea in 2003 to spend more time with his family and friends. Supporting members of the band include Canadian freelance drummer Kris MacFarlane (2002) (drums, accordion, guitar, backing vocals) and Murray Foster (2003, formerly of the band Moxy Früvous) (bass, backing vocals).
In late 2005, the band released its long-awaited "traditional" album, The Hard and the Easy, on which they recorded their favourite Newfoundland party songs. The title of the album comes from a line of the song "Tickle Cove Pond", one of two songs on the album about a horse falling through ice.
On June 13, 2007, the band announced they would return to the studio with producer Hawksley Workman. On March 14, 2008, the band announced that the title of the new album would be Fortune's Favour, borrowing a phrase from one of the songs on the album, "England". The album was officially released on June 24, 2008 across all of North America.
On February 23, 2010, band member Séan McCann released his debut solo album Lullabies for Bloodshot Eyes to pleasing critical success.
On July 13, 2010, Great Big Sea released their new album Safe Upon the Shore in North America. Alan's "From the Road" blog on the band's website, originally confirmed its production in an April posting, speaking also of the album's subsequent release in July. "Nothing But A Song" was the first single off the bands' ninth studio recording, with a subsequent tour kicking off at the end of the summer 2010.
Great Big Sea announced a 'greatest hits' album titled "XX" in October 2012, accompanied by a 20th anniversary tour with 32 dates in 28 cities across the US and Canada which kicked off on March 5, 2013 in Los Angeles and finished in St. John's on April 23, 2013.
In 2013, McCann announced that he would be leaving the band at the end of the XX tour, much to the dismay of his bandmates. Struggling to maintain his new sobriety, he told his bandmates in January of 2013 that XX would be his last tour with the band, but the rest of the band and its management refused to announce this publicly. Finally, in November 2013 with XX almost over, McCann announced his departure himself in a tweet, feeling that the fans needed to know. While largely vilified by Great Big Sea fans with little said by the band or management to counter this view, McCann claims he was devastated by how Great Big Sea ended and wishes it could have gone differently.
Following McCann's departure, the remaining band members spent a year or so trying to find an amicable way that they could continue without him. Eventually coming to the realization that they didn’t want to go on like that, and happily retiring the band.
Recruiting Sargeant
Great Big Sea Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For the sons of the merchants, to join the Blue Puttees
So all the hands enlisted, five hundred young men
Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me
They crossed the broad Atlantic in the brave Florizel,
And on the sands of Suvla, they entered into hell
And on those bloody beaches, the first of them fell
[Chorus]
So it's over the mountains, and over the sea
Come brave Newfoundlanders and join the Blue Puttees
You'll fight in Flanders, and at Galipoli
Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me
Then the call came from London, for the last July drive
To the trenches with the regiment, prepare yourselves to die
The roll call next morning, just a handful survived.
Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me
[Chorus]
The stone men on Water Street still cry for the day
When the pride of the city went marching away
A thousand men slaughtered, to hear the King say
Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me
[Chorus:Repeat x3]
The Great Big Sea song "Recruiting Sargeant" tells the story of the recruitment of 500 young men from Newfoundland by two recruiting sergeants who came to the CLB (Church Lads' Brigade) during World War I. The lyrics describe the journey of these men as they cross the Atlantic on the Florizel and arrive on the beaches of Suvla, where they are immediately thrown into the horrors of war. The first of them falls, and throughout the rest of the song, the lyrics describe the continued enlistment of Newfoundlanders, their battles in Flanders, and the heavy losses that were suffered.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the call to enlist, urging brave Newfoundlanders to join the Blue Puttees and fight for their country: "Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me." The repetition of this phrase drives home the message that these men were called upon to make a sacrifice for their country, and that it was a sacrifice that ultimately cost many of them their lives.
"Recruiting Sargeant" is a poignant and powerful song that pays tribute to the bravery of these young men in the face of war. The lyrics emphasize both the magnitude of the loss suffered by Newfoundlanders during World War I, as well as the pride and sense of duty that was felt by those who chose to enlist.
Line by Line Meaning
Two recruiting sergeants came to the CLB,
Two recruiters from the army came to the CLB to recruit young men for the Blue Puttees.
For the sons of the merchants, to join the Blue Puttees
They were particularly recruiting the sons of merchants for the Blue Puttees.
So all the hands enlisted, five hundred young men
All the young men signed up, five hundred of them.
Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me
Join the Blue Puttees and follow me, as I am your recruiter.
They crossed the broad Atlantic in the brave Florizel,
The young men sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in the brave ship Florizel.
And on the sands of Suvla, they entered into hell
They entered hell while they landed on the sandy shores of Suvla.
And on those bloody beaches, the first of them fell
The first of them died on those bloody beaches.
So it's over the mountains, and over the sea
It's time to go over the mountains and over the sea.
Come brave Newfoundlanders and join the Blue Puttees
All brave Newfoundlanders should join the Blue Puttees.
You'll fight in Flanders, and at Galipoli
You will fight in Flanders and at Galipoli.
Then the call came from London, for the last July drive
The call came from London for the last July drive.
To the trenches with the regiment, prepare yourselves to die
The young men got the call and prepared themselves to die in the trenches with the regiment.
The roll call next morning, just a handful survived.
The next morning's roll call only revealed a handful of men had survived.
The stone men on Water Street still cry for the day
The stone men on Water Street still cry for the day when the young men marched off.
When the pride of the city went marching away
The young men, who were the pride of the city, went marching away.
A thousand men slaughtered, to hear the King say
A thousand men were slaughtered to fulfill a call from the King.
Enlist you Newfoundlanders and come follow me
All the Newfoundlanders who haven't enlisted should come forward and follow their recruiter.
Chorus: So it's over the mountains, and over the sea
The chorus reminds everyone that they are going over the mountains and over the sea.
Come brave Newfoundlanders and join the Blue Puttees
All brave Newfoundlanders should join the Blue Puttees, as they are fighting for a cause.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind