Tom Waits and fellow pirates sing ‘Shenandoah’

Tom Waits and Keith Richards are teaming up with friends fellow pirates Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, Frank Zappa, Iggy Pop and Richard Thompson among others, to release ‘Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys’ due out Feb. 19th. As you can hear, Tom Waits and co. are rescuing the song from decades of bad show choirs and barber shop quartettes. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen a “good” show choir. Any Suggestions? I’ve always just assumed they were an invention for torturing junior high kids. In a way, I suppose, they are turning the torture back around on the smartly dressed and cleanly shaven kids who are probably cringing right now, as you read this.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll take my sea chanteys with a little Guinness…or perhaps something a bit harder.

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*Edward Teach aka Blackbeard (c. 1736 engraving from Johnson’s General History)

A playlist of songs released thus far.