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mydetheturk · 4 years

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OP Shanties and Shantymen

So its time for Myde’s Meta Corner and today’s meta is Shanties!

Shanties are a very specific type of work song, relating specifically to labor on sailing ships. Please check out this post by @gerrydelano because they do a much better job at describing the different flavors than I will but ALSO because I'm primarily going to focus on who the various shanty singers of various crews are.

I’m gonna provide examples as well, so if you’d like, feel free to follow any links scattered throughout.

Now, without further ado, let’s get started on which crews

First off, the Straw Hats. It’s Brook. It was always going to be Brook. Franky and Jinbei can definitely hit those tones that carry on forever but neither of them has the musical chops to improvise shanties on the fly. Tho this brings up the brand new question of Do Fishmen Sing Shanties. I-I mean they sing, right? Jinbei’s a whale shark Fishman, and yeah whale sharks don’t sing like whales do* Fishmen are quasi-humanoid and they have lungs. ANYWAY. Straw Hats. Brook leads the shanties. They don’t do as much shanty-specific singing, so a lot of their sailing songs are more, like, when they’re at rest.

*my ten minutes of research just keeps bringing up that one video of Warhammer of Zillyhoo. while it is a hilarious video, it does not, in fact, answer my question.

Think Bink’s Sake, which also doubles as a drinking song. (Picked this version cause it was the clearest, even tho we all love the pre-time skip version right after thriller bark >.>)

Another thing about the Straw Hats that occurred to me is that, prior to Brook, I don’t think any of them (other than Sanji or Nami) have extended experience on ships as part of a crew. With Sanji, the Baratie is a restaurant, first and foremost, and Nami spent most of her time working out how best to con pirates out of their treasures. She might have known some, but not enough to really lead the crew in a shanty. Usopp would be the perfect pre-Brook choice for shanty leading but up until he joins them he never really left Syrup island. Franky absolutely knows work songs - but specifically ones from Water 7, and all of his knowledge is like, timing for hitting things with hammers. So. Yeah.

In addition, all of the Straw Hats shanties are from West Blue despite half of the crew being from East Blue.

Everyone Else is beneath the cut because this turned out to be about 1400 words long, which is way more than I want to subject everyone to without at least attempting to cut it >.>

I’m actually gonna touch on the Heart Pirates next, purely because I don’t think they’re going to operate the same way as a traditional sailing ship on dint of they’re in a submarine. I’m sure at least some of them (like Law!) have histories on regular sailing ships, so when the Polar Tang is up soaking in the air, sure! maybe a shanty or two while getting the sail set.

However, it’s more likely that songs being sung on the Tang are someone singing aloud to pass the time and someone else joining in and so on and so forth across the Tang until the entire crew has joined in. Yes, including Law.

BUT I will say that, when there are things to do that are above the sea and they require synchronized labor, Shachi’s gonna lead. Bepo, bless his heart, doesn’t have the confidence for it, and Penguin would rather vocally back someone up than actually lead. Law has other things in his head than “improvised lyrics for his crew” such as an encyclopedic knowledge of how the human body works.

On the Polar Tang, you’re more likely to hear different labor songs than on the Thousand Sunny. Think “The Chemical Worker’s Song” (this version by Great Big Sea) or “We All Lift Together” from Warframe. Law is. Not the biggest fan of “The Chemical Worker’s Song” for uh. Flevance Reasons.

We’ll lightly touch on Scratchmen Apoo and his crew, the On Air Pirates because I can tell you, with absolute certainty, that this giant noise machine nerd DJ is the only one allowed to lead shanties on his ship. Nobody else. Nuh-uh. On the upside, the On Air Pirates have like, the best drinking music simply because Apoo has like, every single musical instrument built into his body cause of his devil fruit.

Which, yanno, is an unforeseen upside.

We’re also going to do a short touch on Urouge and the Fallen Monk Pirates. I-I don’t know??? For all I know, they have someone at a drum hitting it at a steady pace to keep time with, given their shrine-like theme???? Shit, I have no fucking clue, I’m so sorry.

Also the sooner I get through Blackbeard the better Fuck Him and his Stupid Fucking Raft. His crew probably does do shanties, but I’m also trying to figure out how it works because his “ship” IS A FUCKING RAFT IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE AND I HATE IT SO MUCH.

Anyway.

Kid Pirates! I discovered this morning/late last night that there’s specifically a shanty about the real Captain Kidd. I’ve decided that the shanty lead on Kid’s ship is Wire. No real reason other than he makes me think that he’d be able to do the booming foghorn voice once you get him to open up. Also! Kid’s crew is another one that I feel has more work songs in it than traditional shanties. They give me a more industrial vibe. Think, like, mining or building. I’m trying to come up with some good examples for you lot, but I’m having some difficulties. Expect edits in the future.

Next is Capone Bege.

If this motherfucker can jazz up a shanty he’d do it. Someone on his crew plays the saxophone. its all Jazz, all the time on his ship. Another one of those “Not really any shanties, but the likelihood of someone starting to sing while they work and eventually everyone joins in” crews. Also, once Chiffon is part of the crew, there’s a lot more singing going on. ESPECIALLY once Bege and Chiffon have their baby. That kid is going to grow up knowing sea mobster songs. I’m excited.

I still cannot believe that one of the best fathers in canon that’s actually around for their kid’s life and the kid is going to remember them (sorry Kyros >.>) is Capone. Bege. what the fuck.

Existential crisis averted, it’s time to move over to one X Drake.

Due to him and his crew being “ex”-Marines, they’re 100% going to have shanties. Like. I would pay someone to draw Drake and his crew doing this. this is common amongst marine crews. I’ve a separate rant I’m preparing for another day because this is already long but!

This guy.

This guy is the lead shanty singer. It is 100% because of his beard and glasses. I’m biased. Drake’s crew is just a bunch of Three Muskateers expies, and I Don’t Care. It’s magical!

I’ll likely touch again on Drake’s crew when I go on my Marine Shanty Rant. They’re important in the dichotomy between pirate shanties and marine shanties.

We’ll stick in North Blue for a bit while we touch base on Basil Hawkins.

Shanties get sung on Hawkins’ ship. They’re... Fucking Spooky. Think “i’m hearing a ship pull into the harbor at 3 am on a foggy night where its not safe to be out on the sea in the first place much less actually moving in the harbor and oh wait there’s more, we can hear the sound of people singing. well this isn’t fucking spooky at all.”

But yeah. Faust. It’s Faust, because Hawkins just kind of side-eyes leading the shanties for vaguely superstitious reasons. He also doesn’t have the vocal prowess for it. He joins in, which just adds to the Fucking Spooky and Vaguely Ethereal sound of his crew’s shanties.

And Finally, my girl Bonney.

Bonney’s crew is another one that I have no idea who’d lead, but they’re all enthusiastic about it. There’s nothing stopping her from leading her own crew in shanties. I’ve decided that Bonney leads. It’s chaos, but its Bonney and her chaos, so its just equally as fun as the Straw Hat chaos.

I refuse to believe that Bonney doesn’t get down and dirty with her crew. You can pry that from my cold dead hands.

#one piece #meta #op meta #worst generation #sea shanties #headcanon #op headcanons

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