The ‘work-song’ is probably one of the oldest forms of music-making, found in all parts of the world, and a way of easing and co-ordinating manual labour – harvesting, weaving, spinning, etc – by communal singing. In sea-faring nations, sailors developed many such songs – sea shanties – to aid the various manual work-patterns on board a sailing ship.
Tom’s gone to Hilo is one of these shanties – and it is a beautiful and much-loved tune, which I have elaborated in my arrangement by providing alto and baritone chorus parts and piano accompaniment. It takes the form of many shanties, with a leader singing a short phrase, and the rest of the crew responding. This type is known as a ‘halliard (halyard) shanty’ and is used when hoisting the sails, the foreman leading, then the crew pulling as one, with the short solo giving the crew time to relax and change position for the next haul. As many verses as necessary would be sung, often made up on the spot.
This particular shanty celebrates a faithful colleague, as Hilo is the port of Ilo in Peru, which was seen by some sailors as a place of rest or burial. Each verse mentions a different place to which he sailed – but it my arrangement I’ve just chosen four of the many verses in existence.
(solo)Tommy’s gone across the sea,
(chorus) Away down Hilo,
O Tommy’s gone across the sea,
Tom’s gone to Hilo.
Tommy’s gone, what shall I do? (etc.)
Tommy fought at Trafalgar (etc.)
Tommy’s gone for evermore (etc.)
The gentleness of this song may not (I have read) have made it the most popular of shanties with the captain, but it was always a popular one with the crew! The version of the song that I’ve used has been taken from R. R. Terry’s Shanty Book, published by Curwen in 1921, which contains thirty shanties with notes on each one.
My arrangement is published in The Oxford Book of Flexible Choral Songs, and is for solo voice, and choir in three parts (Soprano, Alto, Baritone) with piano. But the Alto, Baritone parts, and the piano, may be omitted – which leaves you with the original unadulterated song! You can hear a recording, with scrolling score, here, digitally created using Cantamus software – this version uses all the voice parts.