Louisa Jo Killen (né Louis Killen) w… Read Full Bio ↴(10 January 1934 – 9 August 2013)
Louisa Jo Killen (né Louis Killen) was one of the most widely influential musicians of the folk revival and a key voice of English traditional song. She was a hard-core, unadulterated folksinger whose passionate delivery was matched by a deep and wide-ranging knowledge of the songs and the working people who made them.
Born and raised in the heart of the industrial North East of England, she came early to a love of folk music. Nurtured by a singing family whose tastes ran from liturgical music to cowboy songs, Irish ballads, grand opera, blues, jazz, classical and local Music Hall, the dominant music in her life has been the folk music of the British Isles. Killen's family background is predominantly Irish: her paternal great-grandfather brought the family from County Mayo to the banks of the River Tyne in 1852. Her grandfather married a Scotswoman and her father an Irishwoman.
Though her ancestry is largely Celtic, being a native Tynesider strongly affected her approach to music. Tyneside is an area that absorbs other cultures and converts them into its own - even after thirty-five years living in the USA, Killen's speaking accent still denoted her roots. The mixture of Irish, Scots and English living in the coal-mining and industrial region known to the ancients as Northumbria set it apart from the rest of England, pulling into it the musical traditions of all three countries while maintaining its own distinct musical style. Killen drew on all four traditions to bring a wide range of folk music to her audiences. To these four is added the Anglo-American tradition of deep-water shantying and sailor ballads common to both nations. Louisa Jo's first-hand experience working aboard brigs, brigantines, schooners and sloops in the late '60s and early '70s put her in the forefront of the current revival of maritime music on both sides of the Atlantic.
In a career spanning over forty years, with more than thirty-five albums/CDs to her credit, Killen's influence as a performer, teacher and inspiration to others was unparalleled. Over forty recordings spanning most of the latter part of the 20th Century. Louisa Jo was a living folk legend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Killen
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/19/louis-killen
The Bold Princess Royal
Louis Killen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On the bold Princess Royal bound for Newfoundland.
We had forty brave seamen in the ship′s company
And as boldly from the eastward to the westward sailed we.
We had not been sailing scarce days two or three,
When the man on our masthead strange sails he did see.
The Bold Princess Royal is a sea shanty that tells the story of a group of sailors who set sail from the UK towards Newfoundland on the ship The Bold Princess Royal. The lyrics suggest that they were experienced sailors, as they had 40 brave seamen in their company. The song is recounted in the first person suggesting that it was popular among sailors who likely sang it together whilst at sea.
The first verse sets the scene for the journey inaugurated on 14th February with an air of enthusiasm and adventure. However, the third verse begins to introduce a sense of danger and uncertainty as the sailors spot strange sails in the distance. The rising intricacy of the melody and the urgency in the singers' voices match the heightened sense of tension as they approach uncharted waters.
Line by Line Meaning
On the fourteenth of February we sailed from the land
We departed on the 14th of February from the shore.
On the bold Princess Royal bound for Newfoundland.
Our vessel, the bold Princess Royal, was headed towards Newfoundland.
We had forty brave seamen in the ship's company
There were forty courageous sailors onboard with us.
And as boldly from the eastward to the westward sailed we.
We sailed boldly from the east to the west.
We had not been sailing scarce days two or three,
We had only been sailing for two or three days.
When the man on our masthead strange sails he did see.
One of our crew spotted strange sails on the horizon while on masthead duty.
Writer(s): Traditional, Hall, Watson, Spiers
Contributed by Colin D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.