London: 19th century tinplate is in the UK’s top 40 as traditional sailor songs are enjoying a new wave of popularity thanks to the popular short video app TikTok.
The song Wellerman sung by The Longest Johns, a band from Bristol in the west of England, is now 37th on the official chart, which takes into account the flow of music. The song is ranked No.1 on Spotify’s 50 Social Media Posts list in the US and UK and No.2 globally.
Wellerman is said to have been written in New Zealand in the mid-19th century and tells the story of sailors fighting an epic battle with a whale they were hunting.
The traditional genre has gained attention during coronavirus lockdowns, particularly due to Scottish factor Nathan Evans, who posted his performance for Wellerman on TikTok last year.
The video has now been viewed over eight million times and has sparked a worldwide trend known as “ShantyTok”.
Music stars have caught the trend and performed their own versions.
Pop singers Gary Barlow and Ronan Keating sang it together, while songwriter Andrew Lloyd Webber made a Tik Tok video of himself playing the keyboard.
Evans brings the song’s popularity closer, saying Cabanas was originally sung to “bring everyone together” and that it strikes a chord when people are isolated. “Especially now when everyone is stuck at home, doing their jobs remotely – they can join in, and it brings everyone together.”
Evans signed a recording deal with Polydor and released his own version of Wellerman as a single last week.
France Media Agency
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