In 1968, the predecessor of the Juno’s named The Irish Rovers Canada’s, “Folk Group of the Year”, and the following year, they received a Grammy nomination for “Folk Performance of the Year”.
As hosts of three national television series in Canada and Ireland, through the 1970's and 80s, The Irish Rovers increased the popularity of Irish music by way of the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
Canada's Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, personally asked the band if they could “please become Canadian” so that they could officially represent Canada throughout the world. Since then, they have represented Canada at no less than five world Expos, and in recognition for a quarter century of contributions to the International music world, The Irish Rovers won the Performing Rights Organization's (PROCAN) 'Harold Moon Award'.
Although all members of the band hail from Ireland, a number of their biggest hits were often "non-Irish". Their own rousing, traditional Irish compositions, however, do comprise the bulk of their music.
By the 90’s, their songwriting was even more prolific than their early years, and production of albums wasn’t about to slow down. Since they desired the freedom that as a younger band, they could not afford, in ’93 The Irish Rovers established their own record company, Rover Records. Their songs tell the story of the Irish, whether it’s a lost love, a sailor on leave, or the simple good taste of a Guinness. Rover Records has put out their last eleven albums, including Celtic Collection, Come Fill Up Your Glasses, Down by the Lagan Side, Another Round, Still Rovin', a Christmas album, and their greatest hits, 40 Years A-Rovin'.
Founding member George Millar is from Ballymena, original member Wilcil McDowell is from Larne, John Reynolds from Belfast, Sean O'Driscoll from Cork, Ian Millar from Ballymena, and percussionist Fred Graham is also from Belfast.
Former members include founding member Jimmy Ferguson who passed away in 1997 and Joe Millar.
The Old Balena
The Irish Rovers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well manned by British sailors to work them on the sea
On the western ocean passage none with them can compare
For there's not a ship could make the trip as the "Balena" I declare
CHORUS:
And the wind is on her quarter and her engine working free
Can beat the old "Balena" and you need not try her on
For we challenge all both large and small from Dundee to St. Johns
There's the new built "Terra Nova", she's a model with no doubt
There's the "Arctic" and "Aurora", you've heard so much about
There's Jacklin's model mail-boat, the terror of the sea
Couldn't beat the old "Balena" boys, on a passage from Dundee...
CHORUS
And it happened on the Thursday four days after we left Dundee
Was carried off the quarter boats all in a raging sea
That took away our bulwark, our stanchions and our rails
And left the whole concern boys, a-floating in the gales...
CHORUS
Bold Jacklin carries canvas and fairly raises steam
And Captain Guy's a daring boy, goes ploughing through the stream
But Millan says the "Eskimo" could beat the blooming lot
But to beat the old "Balena" boys, they'd find it rather hot...
CHORUS
An' now that we've landed boys, where the rum is mighty cheap
We'll drink success to the Captain, for getting us over the deep
And a health to all our sweet hearts, an' to our wives so fair
Not another ship could make that trip but the "Balena" I declare...
The Old Balena is a sea shanty that sings the praise of a whaling ship named Balena, which sailed out of Dundee manned by British sailors. The song declares that Balena was the king of all whalers and no other ship could beat her. The lyrics talk about other notable ships like the Terror of the Sea and Arctic and Aurora, which were no match for Balena's prowess. The song continues to describe an incident that occurred four days after they left Dundee, when a raging sea carried away the quarter boats, bulwarks, stanchions, and rails, leaving the crew afloat in the gales.
The song talks about the challenge to beat the Balena and how other ships would find it rather hot to do so. The lyrics also mention the celebration upon landing and drinking to the success of the captain who got them over the deep. The song seems to be an ode to the whaling ship Balena and her brave crew, who sailed through dangerous waters to hunt whales.
Line by Line Meaning
On the noble fleet of whalers out sailing from Dundee
There were many fleets of whalers sailing out from Dundee.
Well manned by British sailors to work them on the sea
These fleets were manned by British sailors.
On the western ocean passage none with them can compare
None of the other fleets could compare in the western ocean passage.
For there's not a ship could make the trip as the "Balena" I declare
There was no other ship that could make the trip like the Balena.
And the wind is on her quarter and her engine working free
The wind was on the Balena's quarter and the engine was working well.
And there's not another whaler a-sailing from Dundee
There was no other whaler sailing from Dundee that was like the Balena.
Can beat the old "Balena" and you need not try her on
No other whaler could beat the old Balena.
For we challenge all both large and small from Dundee to St. Johns
They challenged all the other whalers from Dundee to St. Johns.
There's the new built "Terra Nova", she's a model with no doubt
The Terra Nova was a new model of whaler.
There's the "Arctic" and "Aurora", you've heard so much about
The Arctic and Aurora were other famous whalers.
There's Jacklin's model mail-boat, the terror of the sea
Jacklin's model mail-boat was known as the terror of the sea.
Couldn't beat the old "Balena" boys, on a passage from Dundee...
None of these other whalers could beat the Balena on a passage from Dundee.
And it happened on the Thursday four days after we left Dundee
On Thursday, four days after they left Dundee, something happened.
Was carried off the quarter boats all in a raging sea
The quarter boats were carried off in a raging sea.
That took away our bulwark, our stanchions and our rails
The storm took away their bulwark, stanchions, and rails.
And left the whole concern boys, a-floating in the gales...
The whole ship was left floating in the gales.
Bold Jacklin carries canvas and fairly raises steam
Jacklin had a lot of canvas and could raise steam fairly.
And Captain Guy's a daring boy, goes ploughing through the stream
Captain Guy was daring and ploughed through the stream.
But Millan says the "Eskimo" could beat the blooming lot
Millan thought the Eskimo could beat all of them.
But to beat the old "Balena" boys, they'd find it rather hot...
But to beat the old Balena, they would find it rather difficult.
An' now that we've landed boys, where the rum is mighty cheap
Now that they have landed where the rum is cheap.
We'll drink success to the Captain, for getting us over the deep
They will drink success to the Captain for getting them over the deep.
And a health to all our sweet hearts, an' to our wives so fair
They will also drink to their sweethearts and fair wives.
Not another ship could make that trip but the "Balena" I declare...
No other ship could make that trip like the Balena.
Contributed by Violet Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Ian Burt
on Bluenose
You have missed out a verse.