published on
Crouch End Festival Chorus
BBC Concert Orchestra
Conducted by David Temple MBE
Barbican Centre, London
24th October 2018
Recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio 3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0001593
Text by Herman Melville, from Moby Dick (1851)
Words of the character Stubb, the ship's Second Mate.
Extracted and adapted by Ryan Latimer
I. Oh, Jolly is the Gale
STUBB: Oh! jolly is the gale,
And a joker is the whale,
A' flourishin' his tail, —
Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad,
is the Ocean, oh!
The scud all a flyin',
That's his flip only foamin';
When he stirs in the spicin', —
Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad,
is the Ocean, oh!
Thunder splits the ships,
But he only smacks his lips,
A tastin' of this flip, —
Such a funny, sporty, gamy, jesty, joky, hoky-poky lad,
is the Ocean, oh!
STARBUCK: Avast Stubb! ... Let the Typhoon sing, and strike his harp here in our rigging; but if thou art a brave man thou wilt hold thy peace.
STUBB: But I am not a brave man; never said I was a brave man; I am a coward; and I sing to keep up my spirits. And I tell you what it is, Mr. Starbuck, there's no way to stop my singing in this world but to cut my throat. And when that's done, ten to one I sing ye the doxology for a wind-up.
II. In Old England
BADGER-HAIRED OLD MERMAN IN STUBB'S DREAM:
In old England the greatest lords think it great glory to be slapped by a queen, and made garter-knights of; but, be your boast, Stubb, that ye were kicked by old Ahab, and made a wise man of. Remember what I say; be kicked by him; account his kicks honours; and on no account kick back; for you can't help yourself, wise Stubb.
III. The Final Consequence
Ha! ha! ha! ha! hem! clear my throat!
I've been thinking over it ever since, and that ha, ha's the final consequence.
Why so?
I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing. Fa, la! lirra, skirra!
We'll drink to-night with hearts as light,
To love, as gay and fleeting
As bubbles that swim, on the beaker's brim,
And break on the lips while meeting.
IV. Oh, Jolly is the Word for Aye
Cancer the Crab drags us back here.
Scorpio stings us in the rear.
Capricornus, full tilt, he comes rushing and headlong we are tossed.
Aquarius pours out his deluge and drowns us; and to wind up with Pisces, or the fishes, we sleep.
There’s a sermon now, writ in high heaven, and the sun goes through it every day and yet comes out of it all alive and hearty. Jollily he, aloft there, wheels through toil and trouble; and so, alow here, does jolly Stubb. Oh, jolly is the word for aye!