The Handsome Cabin Boy

[nessus (Doug Alan)]

Kate's new import twelve-inch single has been available in the U.S.
for more than a week now, so I trust you have all run out and bought
it, so that you have every note KB has ever put down on vinyl.  But
for those errant few who do not have it yet or who have not researched
it's entire history, I will tell you about it.

The A side contains a totally new version of the song "Hounds Of
Love".  It is *not* a remix, but a totally new version called
"Alternate Hounds Of Love".  It is so different from the original, you
could even say it's a new song.  The drum beat is similar and it has
the cellos chugging away, but the melody and lyrics are different.  It
is better than the original, musically, though the lyrics are more in
the extended remix vein.  The background vocals border on the silly
(even more so than on the original), but someohow the sillyness fits
perfectly and it sounds great.

The B-side contains the album version of "Jig Of Life" and a new song
"The Handsome Cabin Boy".  "The Handsome Cabin Boy" is a traditional
dirty sea chantey, and Kate sings it a cappela in her best Scottish
accent.  Throughout there is a haunting chorus of Kates in the
background droning a continuous two notes that are a fifth apart.
This is really neat not only because it sounds *really* intense, but
also because this is what bag pipes do.  Bag pipes have three pipes.
The pitch of one of the pipes can be controlled, but the other two
pipes always play the same two notes which are a fifth apart.

I have known for a while that Kate Bush was introduced to music as a
kid by singing dirty sea chanteys with her brothers, and I find it
strange that a dirty sea chantey now appears on her record.  When I
interviewed Kate, one of the questions I was going to ask if I had the
time was if she would be willing to sing one of the dirty sea chanteys
she sang as a kid.  And now one is on her record!  In any case, I have
heard the song "The Handsome Cabin Boy" before.  In fact, I heard it on
a tape of a radio show done about five years ago where KB was guest
DJ.  HCB was one of the songs she played, and she said it's an
"absolutely classic story".  It was peformed by A. L. Loyd and Euwan
McCall.  I'm told that has also been performed by Gordon Bok.

These are the lyrics as Kate sings them:

It's of a pretty female as you may understand
Her mind been bent for rambling into some foreign land
She dressed herself in sailor's clothes, or so it does appear
And she hired with a captain to serve him for a year

Her cheeks they were like roses and her hair all in a curl
The sailors often smiled and said he looked just like a girl
But eating all the captain's biscuit her colour did destroy
And the waist did swell of pretty Nell, the handsome cabin boy

It was in the Bay of Biscay her gallant ship did plow
One night among the sailors was a fearful floorin' row
They tumbled from their hammocks, for their sleep it did destroy
And they swarmed about the groanin' of the handsome cabin boy

"Oh doctor, dear.  Oh doctor," the cabin boy did cry
"The time has come -- I am undone, and I will surely die"
The doctor come a'runnin' and a'smilin' at their fun --
To think a sailor lad should have a daughter or a son

The sailors when they saw the joke, they all did stand and stare
The child belonged to none of them, they solemnly did swear
And the captain's wife she says to him, "My dear I wish you joy
For 'tis either you or me's betrayed the handsome cabin boy"

[the end]

There are two verses to the song which Kate has left out.  One is the
second verse:

The captain's wife she being on board, she seem-ed in great joy
To see her husband had engaged such a handsome cabin boy
And now and then she'd slip in a kiss, and she would have liked to toy
But it was the captain found out the secret of the handsome cabin boy

[end of second verse]

The other is the last verse:

Then each man took his tot of rum, and drunk success to trade
And likewise to the cabin boy, who was neither man nor maid
Here's hopin' the wars don't rise again, our sailors to destroy
And here's hoping for a jolly lot more like the handsome cabin boy

[end of last verse]

Coming soon: Kate directs her first video ("Hounds of Love") and they
are showing it on Night Flight and V66....

			"Run, run, run, run, run, run, Honey
			 Run from the hounds of love"

			 Doug

P.S.  KB trivia for today: I know two different people who heard Tod
Rungren guest DJ two different radio shows back in '78 or '79, and he
played nothing but Kate Bush....  (So you see, Jim, Tod is good for
something!)