I first heard
Jeannie C, the
Stan Rogers song, sometime in the early-eighties broadcast on BFPS here in Germany during a
Wally Whyton special programme dedicated to "Songs of the Sea". The lady who sang it (I did not catch her name) had learned it from Stan Roger in Norfolk, Virginia sang it most beautifully. Although I transcribed it immediately I never got round to learning it myself until early 2008 when looking for something Caro Hilleckes to sing during the 2008 Maritime festival in Bremen-Vegesack. The song itself is the narrative of a fishing boat being lost in a storm. Typical "folkies", we have added a verse where we felt the story did not tell everything, what happened to the narrator's son for example. For my own part, I could not bring myself to use the given landlubber terminology and use royal Navy sea terms instead. Whatever, this is a terrific song which may equally well be performed by man or woman!
