White Lightning Productions

Okay, so I killed several hours of productivity over the weekend thanks to L.A. Meyer's "The Wake of the Lorelei Lee". I wrote a quick irish-y drinking song inspired by one of the characters (and the plot surrounding him). And have been hacking at it, but here's the original, off-the-cuff lyrics.

(Chorus)
Old Laughin' Laughton, a man on the level,
Good Captain Laughton, the Master of Revels!
Swell Singin' Laughton, now what will they say,
'Bout ye boarding a brothel to Botany Bay?

(Verse 1)
He took the commission of Lorelei Lee,
To haul away Newgate's unwanted to sea.
The cargo he ferried to Sidney's far shores
Was a hull full of whiskey, wine, fine food and wh**es!

(Repeat Chorus)

(Verse 2)
If yer failin' at sailin' and prospects look dark,
Feel cursed there's no worse than to serve a jail bark.
Now here be of cheer, ne'er the Lorelei dread,
Rub that Maiden for luck on the prow's Figurehead.
Or is that "Rub that figure for luck on the prow's-"
---Would ye like to see how quickly yer Warnin' Level can go up on these here boards?
Oh! Uh... sorry. I'll just... get back to singing, then.

(Repeat Chorus)

(Verse 3)
They docked at Gibraltar, fresh water and air,
The ladies they played for to ply their trade there.
Every able on leave and their officers joined,
to see Laughton's mermaid flip her tail up for coins.

(A Chorus is a Chorus, of Chorus, of Chorus)

(Penultimate verse)
In the South China Seas, a hero met his fate.
And his path to glory, no man can debate.
(Slowdown) A bold batt'ler of old, alas he must die- (pron. 'Dee')
But he left... as he lived... with a girl on each knee.

(Chorus, lamenting)

(Final Verse, slow)
So we mourn for a man, and his mortal remains.
But his grave neath the waves his memory maintains.
For as soon as his soul the tides had up tossed-
(pickup) Neptune and his Nerieds showed up totally sloshed!

Old Laughin' Laughton, we miss you our man!
The Lorelei Lee loves her fav'rite Captain!
If the sea should forget you, we'll recall you on sand,
in each bulbous nose found in Van Diemen's Land!

Thing is, "Jacky Faber" on the boards loved it, and now I'm trying to edit it, hashing out both what the proper scheme should be, the timing, and maybe the tune, if there's already an existing tune that fits it. I'm thinking of altering it all to fit the 11-10-11-12 beat of the first two verses, and then going from there.

ok, so i posted already but it told me this post didnt exist... so...

I was singing it as an irish drinking song, and I liked it well enough so hunt through celtic woman/ celtic thunder and see if you like anything, my only edit suggestion is:

(Verse 1)
He took the commission of Lorelei Lee,
To haul away Newgate's unwanted to sea.
The cargo he ferried to Sidney's far(fair?) shores
(Was<remove)a hull full of whiskey, (wine, fine food<remove) food, wine and wh**es!


also... thou art thine king of spoilers! ;_;

Hardly, given that it's book eight in a series, and only the events pertaining to one character. And that isn't 2/3s the way through the book. But are you reading the Bloody Jack series, in all their epicness?

yes silly, im toxic_kizzes on deviant, i have read all but the latest one i lurves her style xp

Oy. Yep.

I did discover that it has an odd beat, that I kinda liked...

11-10-11-12 in the first couple verses. Really solidly. I like the 12 syllables in the last line because it adds a bit of trickiness to it, like a twist to add in to each last line. So other verses I'd like to edit to match that. And then find a decent mike to sing it into...

It's more I just need to drop random syllables to fit that. Especially because like holding onto those secondary rhymes (wine, fine) and all that alliteration.

I need to at least hum it and record it, to see if there's a recognizable tune in there, though. And don't worry, I barely touched on TWotLL. But I should also get into doing something about other books, or the heroine herself.

I also added a "Character Sheet" page to the TVTropes page for Bloody Jack