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.
The Jolly Butcher
Great Big Sea Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh won't you come along with me love
Come along with me!
Come for one night and be my wife
And come along with me
Well it is of the jolly butcher as you might plainly see
As he roved out one morning in search of company
He went into a tavern and a fair girl he did see
He called for liquor of the best
And he makes such fortune play
Come have a drink, it will make us think
That it is our wedding day
CHORUS
Well he called for a candle to light their way to bed
And when he had her in the room these words to her he said,
"A sovereign I will give to you, for to embrace your charms"
And all that night, that fair young maid, lied in the butchers' arms
CHORUS
Oh, Early the next morning be sure it went his way
He looked unto that fair young maid and unto her did say,
"That sovereign that I gave to you, do not think me strange,
Well that sovereign that I gave to you will you give me back me change!"
CHORUS
Well about a 12 months later he roved out once more
And he went into the tavern where he'd often been before
He wasn't in there very long when his fair maid he did see
And she brought forth a baby three months old and placed it on his knee
When he saw the baby, he began to curse and swear
And he said unto that fair young maid, "Why did you bring him here?!"
"Well he is your own, kind sir", she said, "Do not think me strange,
Well that sovereign that you gave to me, I gives you back your change!!"
CHORUS x 2
The lyrics of The Jolly Butcher by Great Big Sea song tell the story of a man who is in search of company and encounters a fair young maiden in a tavern. He invites her to spend the night with him and even offers her a sovereign as a token of his gratitude. The morning after, he asks for his sovereign back and leaves. A year passes, and the butcher returns to the tavern only to be greeted by the same maiden and her three-month-old baby - who, as it turns out, is his own child. He curses and swears at the young woman until she gives him back his sovereign, making the gentle point that "it takes two to tango." The lyrics can be interpreted as a commentary on the social and economic power dynamic between men and women in love and relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh won't you come along with me love
The singer is inviting someone to join him on a journey
Come along with me!
The singer is reinforcing his invitation
Come for one night and be my wife
The singer is proposing a short-term relationship
And come along with me
The singer is again reinforcing his invitation
Well it is of the jolly butcher as you might plainly see
The song is about a butcher and his romantic pursuits
As he roved out one morning in search of company
The butcher is looking for someone to spend time with
He went into a tavern and a fair girl he did see
The butcher meets a woman in a tavern
Ah come for one night, be my wife, oh come along with me
The butcher is proposing a short-term relationship
He called for liquor of the best
The butcher orders the best drinks available
And he makes such fortune play
The butcher tries to seduce the woman with his charm
Come have a drink, it will make us think
The butcher is trying to get the woman to drink with him
That it is our wedding day
The butcher is trying to create a romantic mood
Well he called for a candle to light their way to bed
The butcher prepares to spend the night with the woman
And when he had her in the room these words to her he said,
The butcher speaks to the woman in private
"A sovereign I will give to you, for to embrace your charms"
The butcher offers the woman money for sex
And all that night, that fair young maid, lied in the butchers' arms
The woman spends the night with the butcher
Oh, Early the next morning be sure it went his way
The butcher leaves the woman in the morning
He looked unto that fair young maid and unto her did say,
The butcher speaks to the woman before leaving
"That sovereign that I gave to you, do not think me strange,
The butcher reminds the woman of the previous night's arrangement
Well that sovereign that I gave to you will you give me back me change!"
The butcher wants his money back
Well about a 12 months later he roved out once more
The butcher returns to the tavern after a year
And he went into the tavern where he'd often been before
The butcher returns to a familiar place
He wasn't in there very long when his fair maid he did see
The butcher sees the woman from before
And she brought forth a baby three months old and placed it on his knee
The woman shows the butcher his child
When he saw the baby, he began to curse and swear
The butcher is angry and upset
And he said unto that fair young maid, "Why did you bring him here?!"
The butcher is questioning the woman's motives
"Well he is your own, kind sir", she said, "Do not think me strange,
The woman reveals that the baby is the butcher's
Well that sovereign that you gave to me, I gives you back your change!!"
The woman gives the butcher his money back
CHORUS x 2
The chorus is repeated twice to end the song
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: TRAD, Alan Thomas Doyle, Darrell Power, Robert Bruce Hallett, Shawn McCann
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind