"Lukey's Boat" or "Loakie's Boat" (Roud 1828) is a comical folk song originating from the east coast of Newfoundland. Given its metre, it may have derived from a sea shanty.
There are many minor variations of the song, depending on the singer; however it is essentially about the characteristics of the title boat, with the last few stanzas about Lukey returning home to find his wife dead and buried (who appears not to grieve her much, as he'll have another "in the spring of the year"). The earliest printed version was in "Ballads from Nova Scotia" (1932) by Helen Creighton, listed as "Loakie's Boat".
Contemporary recordings include "Lukey" by Great Big Sea for their 1995 album Up , The Chieftains featuring Great Big Sea for the 1998 album Fire in the Kitchen , and John White, from St John's, Newfoundland in 1996. Fiddler's Green, a German folk band, for their 2007 album Drive Me Mad!, and The Kreellers on Sixth and Porter released in 2008. Cornish Group Fisherman's Friends included the song on their 2024 release All Aboard.
The song was also used as a theme song for Australian comedian Lukey Bolland.
Great Big Sea was a Canadian folk rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year Irish, Scottish, and Cornish heritage. The band was very successful in Canada, with eleven of their albums being certified Gold in the country, including four being certified Platinum and two achieving multi-platinum certifications. Between 1996 and 2016, Great Big Sea was the sixteenth best-selling Canadian artist in Canada and the sixth best-selling Canadian band in Canada.
Alan Thomas Doyle is a Canadian musician and founding member of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea.
Newfoundland and Labrador is an Atlantic Canadian province with a folk musical heritage based on the Irish, English and Cornish traditions.
Road Rage is an album by Great Big Sea released in 2000. It is a compilation of live performances that took place between October 14 and December 31, 1999.
Rant and Roar is an album by Great Big Sea. Released in 1998 only to the USA, it is a compilation of some of the tracks from Up and Play also by Great Big Sea. This album was created because the band wanted to expand beyond their mostly Canadian fan base. The album's title comes from the first line of the traditional song "The Ryans and the Pittmans", which is generally more well known than the song's actual name.
"I'se the B'y" is a traditional Newfoundland folk song/ballad. "I's the B'y" is in the Newfoundland English dialect, and translates to standard English as "I'm the Boy" or "I'm the Guy". The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame decided to honour the song in 2005, officially accepting it as part of the Canadian Song Hall of Fame.
"Home for a Rest" is a song by Canadian folk rock band Spirit of the West from their fourth studio album Save This House, released in 1990. It is the band's signature song and is considered a classic of Canadian music.
The Hard and The Easy is the seventh studio album by Great Big Sea. It was released on October 11, 2005 in Canada and October 25, 2005 in the US. It reached gold status by October 25, 2005.
"Drunken Sailor", also known as "What Shall We Do with a/the Drunken Sailor?" or "Up She Rises", is a traditional English sea shanty, listed as No. 322 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It was sung aboard English sailing ships at least as early as the 1830s.
RobertHallett is a Canadian musician, author, producer, and entrepreneur, best known as a founding member of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea (1993–2013). He is also a native of St. John's, Newfoundland, Hallett co-founded Great Big Sea in 1993, with Alan Doyle, Sean McCann, and Darrell Power. The band sold over a million and half records around the world, over a twenty-year period. Through his company, Kilbride Music, Hallett has managed bands and produced records, radio specials, and live concerts. Hallet is a vocal proponent of talent development within the Newfoundland and East Coast Music Industries, and has authored a career guidebook for aspiring musicians. He works with the producers of the Broadway musical Come From Away as a Music Consultant, and has also worked at the Stratford Festival as a Composer & Music Director. As an author he has written dozens of magazine articles, essays and several books, including the best-selling memoir Writing Out The Notes. He is the owner of Erin's Pub and Tavola Restaurant in downtown St. John's. Hallett currently plays accordion and other instruments in the band Kelly Russell and the Planks; he has also been associated with The Once, The Dardanelles, Fabian James, and the Irish Descendants, in various capacities.
Old Polina is a traditional Newfoundland folk song. It is most likely based on the ship Polynia, built in 1861, of the Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company fleet. Polynia was commanded by Captain William Guy from 1883 to 1891, when she was sunk by ice in Davis Strait. This song is similar to another song called The Balaena, about another whaler.
Fortune's Favour is the eighth studio album released by Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea. The album was released on June 24, 2008, debuting at No. 5 on the Canadian Music Charts and also includes a DVD. The album was certified gold in Canada.
"Tickle Cove Pond" is a 19th century folk song written by Mark Walker, a fisherman and songwriter from Bonavista Bay in Newfoundland, Canada. It became popular during the 20th century after it was published in songbooks by Gerald S. Doyle.
Ron Hynes was a folk singer-songwriter from Newfoundland and Labrador. He was especially known for his composition "Sonny's Dream", which has been recorded worldwide by many artists and was named the 41st greatest Canadian song of all time on the 2005 CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.
Darrell Power is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, music producer, and former member of Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea (1993–2003). He is a guest host of VOCM Nightline and Open Line. Power currently works as a substitute teacher. He lives in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" is a traditional spiritual first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina. The best-known recording was released in 1960 by the U.S. folk band The Highwaymen; that version briefly reached number-one hit status as a single.
Great Big DVD and CD is a live recording by Canadian folk group, Great Big Sea, released on Zoë Records in 2004. The package contains two discs, one in CD format and one in NTSC DVD format with no region coding. Both CD and DVD contain the same tracks recorded live in Ottawa, Canada. The DVD comes with an interactive menu and special features, including various video clips, karaoke clips, "home videos", a documentary and a text file about the band. It was released on the iTunes Store on June 14, 2011 as "Great Big Sea (Live)".
"Sonny's Dream" is a folk song written by Newfoundlander Ron Hynes in 1976. It tells the story of a man who wishes to fulfill his dreams, but is bound to his rural homeland by his family, particularly his lonely mother. Hynes wrote the song while on a roadtrip with his band in western Canada and based it on his uncle, Thomas "Sonny" O'Neill, who had taught him how to play guitar and had pushed him to play music professionally. It was first recorded by The Wonderful Grand Band on their eponymous album, but appeared re-recorded on their second album Living in a Fog in 1981. Subsequent to the songwriter Ron Hynes' death, a crowd was organized for a singalong in Bannerman Park, St. John's in remembrance and celebration of his life.
The Irish Descendants are a folk group from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. All the members, born of Irish emigrants, were workers in the Newfoundland fishing industry before forming the band in 1990 out of the remnants of two former Newfoundland bands – The Descendants and Irish Coffee. The group helped to popularise traditional Newfoundland music to a wider Canadian audience in the early 1990s, along with other bands such as Great Big Sea. Their popularity within the province itself led to their selection as the official band of the province's 500th anniversary celebrations, during which they performed for the Queen. Tension within the group caused co-frontman D'Arcy Broderick to leave soon after this period, and their lineup has frequently changed since then, with frontman Con O'Brien being the only constant member. Regular touring and occasional album releases, most recently Is your Rhubarb Up in 2018, have kept the group in the public eye.
"Published in Gerald S. Doyle's Old-Time Songs And Poetry Of Newfoundland: Songs Of The People From The Days Of Our Forefathers (Second Edition, p.71, 1940; Third edition, p.40, 1955). Also published on pp.24-25 of Songs Of Newfoundland, a complementary booklet of lyrics to twenty-one songs distributed by the Bennett Brewing Co. Ltd., of St. John's, NL, with the cooperation of the Gerald S. Doyle Song Book from which these lyrics were obtained." * Lukey's Boat by Great Big Sea