Three Sheets to the Wind celebrates the sailor's life

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.
We kindle and char, inflame and ignite,
Drink up, me ’earties, yo ho.
We burn up the city, we’re really a fright,
Drink up, me ’earties, yo ho.”

Do you long for the sight of a Jolly Roger or still catch yourself daydreaming about whether there will there be a fourth installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean”?

While there are rumors that Walt Disney Pictures has made tentative plans to shoot another chapter in the saga of Capt. Jack Sparrow, it’s difficult to know whether the buzz is actually just posturing by movie producers or the fantasies of fans of the film. Arrrrrgh!

So if you’re a landlubber in need of some adventure on the sea, and the “Pirates” trilogy isn’t doing it for you (and you can’t wait until Sept. 19, aka “Talk Like a Pirate Day”) then the answer may be ... Three Sheets to the Wind.

No, it’s not a sailing term or a point on the compass. Three Sheets to the Wind is a local sea shanty band known for gritty songs of the sea (featuring wenches, scalawags and lots of grog). The group is performing Saturday at 7 p.m. at Coalesce Bookstore in Morro Bay.

Formed on the Central Coast
The Three Sheets are: Sidney Willson Young, who plays guitar, banjo and vocals; Chrisanne Wollett, who plays mandolin, harmonica and guitar; and Jack “The Shantyman” Beardwood, a tenor who sings and occasionally plays the spoons.

The band has performed locally since the early 1990s. They’ve played at the Live Oak Music Festival, the Performing Arts Center, Morro Bay Harbor Festival and at the Dana Point Tallship Festival.

“With songs of shipwrecks, pirating on the high seas, whaling and wayward sailors, Three Sheets to the Wind seeks to preserve nautical songs and shanties that have been sung onboard ships for hundreds of years,” Beardwood said.

Sea shanties, or chanteys (from the French verb for "to sing," "chanter"), were shipboard work songs. When a yardarm or heavy canvas sails on a 19th century clipper ship needed to be raised, the shantyman would lead the song that synchronized efforts of the crew as they performed the task. This was in the days when heaving when you were supposed to ho could be hazardous to the ship and your mates — especially during a blow. The songs also helped take the edge off the boredom that is life at sea.

“Shanties are sung in a call-and-response fashion,” says a report on a BBC Web site devoted to the genre. “A leader, or shantyman, sings out the verses, and the chorus or refrain is then echoed by the entire crew. The style is very rhythmic, and a word is usually emphasized in the refrain to indicate the point at which the crew should pull on the rope or do whatever needs to be done.

“Since there are a variety of specific shipboard tasks for which a shanty could be used, different styles of shanty have evolved, each with its own rhythm according to the necessity of the task.”

Sea shanties have been around for hundreds of years. The music genre gained fans in the wake of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series. Arrrrrgh!

A famous fan of the genre
Actor Johnny Depp and “Pirates” director Gore Verbinski were captivated by shanties and responded with 2006’s “Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys,” a double-disc set with tracks from Bono, Sting, Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Lou Reed, Richard Thompson and Lucinda Williams.

The CD includes perhaps the most famous sea shanty of them all, a stamp-and-go number titled “What Do We Do With a Drunken Sailor,” that contains these lyrics:

What shall we do with the drunken sailor?
What shall we do with the drunken sailor?
What shall we do with the drunken sailor?
Early in the morning.

Hooray and up she rises
Hooray and up she rises
Hooray and up she rises
Early in the morning.

Three Sheets to the Wind covers “Drunken Sailor.” Their repertoire also includes scores of other shanties as well — ditties that involve drinking (“All for Me Grog”), the romance of the sea (“Eddystone Light”), lofty ships (“Golden Vanity”) and the itinerant life of a merchant sailor (“Rolling Down to Old Maui”).

And, perhaps, a pirate tune or two as well. Yo ho!

— Jay Thompson


If you go ...
Three Sheets to the Wind will play songs of the sea and some Irish music at 7 p.m. Saturday at Coalesce Bookstore, 845 Main St. in Morro Bay. Tickets are $10. For details, call 772-2880

Ever hear a real sea shanty? Hear a portion of “Roll the Old Chariot Along,” from the Library of Congress' Gordon Collection, which was recorded in the Bay Area in the early 1920s. Click here.

Photo by Janice Young

Artwork is from Three Sheets to the Wind’s 1995 recording, “All for Me Grog.” The design is by Bruce Clyde.