Sea Chanties and the Lost Concepts of Culture

I was singing Santy Anno as I was walking along the beach front. Two men that owned a boat asked me what the tune was and where I had heard "such a wierd country tune."

Oy vey.

But that's what happens, as cultures grow they shake off the little traits and customs that once gave them meaning and take on new ones, leaving historical and FRPG players such as myself to remember the tradition.

Sea Chanties were repetive choral arrangements, often sung accapella, where a troop at work would sing the chorus and then break for the soloist to sing a verse. It eased hard physical labor.

Can you see a pack of cubical dwelling salary-slaves suddenly bursting into song as they labor away compiling code or making cold calls?

And this brings me to the point of my post. Work used to be a communal experience. It required many hands to move a ship, till a field, or build a shelter. Work has no become a singular experience, so much so that when you see work crews today laboring at the side of the road they aren't singing themselves. They are simply wokring along to the drudgery of the day or at best they are listening to music played by someone else blazing from a radio.

In short, work has lost it's soul. No one feels like they have done anything worth doing at most of our labour anymore. Don't get me wrong, I am not looking at the back breaking montony of past labour with romantic glasses, saying "Oh if only we could have arderous, knuckle cracking, life ending labour like before!" Work has become easier, and with that we produce more and live longer and safer lives.

But along the way we lost the perceived value of what we do.

Think of the terms we use today to describe labor. The Grind, The Rat Race, The Cubical Forest, Salary-slave, Wage-Slave, the Yob, Dead-end Job, McJob.

We work, we are taxed, we have ( if lucky ) enough to pay for our shelter and needs, and if very lucky we have enough for the circuses given us in the form of video-games and media.

And we hate it.

Eariler I mentioned the Dennis Praeger Show's post on the Four things that give meaning, and perhaps it's just that compelling arguement worming it's way into my brain, but I'm beginning to wonder if some of our problems as a culture could be fixed if we re-enforced the contribution of our labor, even at seeminingly dead-end jobs.

I fear that the malaise of it spreads not only to our finances, but our self-esteem and appreciation of what our ancestors struggled for.

Something I think about every time someone asks me why they should study history, "Because what have those dead people ever done for me?"

So, until the time that we can fix this problem I see, I'll sing the chanties and dance the jigs...

Way Haul away, We'll Haul away for Rosie-O!

Posting Here To Keep The Peace, - Da FIJ