A friend recently shared a trend of TikTok with me: sea shanties. (Full disclosure: I downloaded TikTok for a brief period in December, but quickly realized I didn’t have the willpower to prevent myself from being sucked into endless hours of scrolling.) This trend seems to have started with a Scottish postman trying to boost people’s spirits during quarantine. It certainly seems to have worked! Thousands of different people have shared their renditions of different sea shanties. There’s a great appeal to these songs; they have a simple melody, strong rhythms, and often are in call and response form. These characteristics make them ideal for communal singing during work on a ship.
We live in an age of constantly increasing atomization and a drastic decline in communal singing. As kids, we all participated in sing-alongs frequently, but few adults have much chance to sing in easy unison. There are plenty of reasons for this, from declining civil engagement to an idolization of professional musicians. The decline of singing can be seen in all aspects of our society. We usually chant at sports games and protests instead of singing. There aren’t as many opportunities to sing patriotic songs. It’s no surprise that sea shanties have become popular. This primal human need to sing with others has few to no outlets in our culture. The lone exception are churches. Even church isn’t a place where many people feel comfortable singing. As Catholics, we’re used to the stereotypes of lackluster congregational singing.
The popularity of sea shanties is the perfect opportunity for churches to direct human desires towards their spiritual fulfillment! That’s why good hymns are so important. People want to sing; we just need to give them substance. I also think there’s great value in having a loud organ—people feel much less self-conscious when there’s a loud instrumental to cover any imperfections. Singing together is a profound expression of prayer and common purpose. Emphasizing congregational singing is one way to stand athwart disturbing trends of loneliness. Singing together speaks to our very human needs as well as pointing us towards God.
While probably not connected to the current shanty trend, historically the strong beat often corresponds to the speed at which some task on a ship needs to be done. Song helped 19th century sailors work in unison. I think there’s a lesson there for 21st century Catholics. Few of us are actually sailors, but we all have roles aboard the Ark of Salvation. The beat to which we set our labor comes not from shanties, but from the psalms and hymns of the Church. These musical instruments assist us in worshiping God together—the first job of any Christian. Through exposure to this music, we learn how to praise and glorify God. While the sailors singing shanties unfurled the sails, we praise God with the angels and saints by singing “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
Amongst the musical resources of the Church, the psalms have pride of place. These are the words of Holy Scripture given to us by God in order to praise Him aright. Most of us have our exposure to the psalms during the Responsorial Psalm at Mass. When said, I often have trouble remembering the verse I’m supposed to repeat; however, when it’s sung, the music helps the lodge the words of Scripture in my mind.
During this season of the pandemic, most congregations have had to stop singing together. Hopefully, once conditions have improved, the Church can be a place where full-throated praise is given to God and where we are bound together by shared song.
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