Overview
From the liner notes of Smithsonian Folkways’ Classic Maritime Music: “At the time of this recording, Stuart Gillespie was the senior chanteyman at Mystic Seaport. He spent his career working as a professor of music at Naugatuck College in Waterbury, Connecticut, where he directed the choir. Over the years, he composed and published choral arrangements, including two based on nautical themes, of which on is the piece “Poor Old Man.” He retired from teaching at the end of 2003.
“One of the great whaling songs, this song is believed to have come from British whaling ships (Colcord 1964:147). It was recorded by the Weavers and became part of the repertoire of many groups in the British Isles and North America, including Peter, Paul and Mary and the Pogues.”
Curated History
Gillespie performed Greenland Whale Fisheries on Smithsonian Folkways' Classic Maritime Music, Track 4.