1920s SUPER, ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT NOTEBOOK HAND WRITTEN BY A MUSICALLY INCLINED MACHINIST'S MATE WHO CATALOGUED AND COMPILED POPULAR AND NAVAL SONGS FROM WWI THROUGH WWII

On offer is an excellent small songbook kept by an American sailor. This notebook measures 6 inches by 3 3/4 inches and contains 140 pages. It is 60% complete. The cover and pages are in good condition and the handwriting is very legible. For centuries, sailors have used songs to help with their heavy work, to entertain themselves and to build the sense of crew spirit so needed to man ships for long periods of time in all kinds of weather. Lewis Szarek was no different. A Machinists Mate in the United States Navy, he apparently served from the late 1920's into WWII. He has written his name and service (US Navy) on the inside cover. Casual research suggests that he comes from Providence, RI. However, no other biographical data was found. The notebooks contain the lyrics to 39 songs. One song, Coghlan's Black Gang Crew, possibly points to the ship he served on in WWII - the destroyer USS Coughlan (DD 606). The term 'black gang' is a naval term with its origins in the days of coal-fired engines. The black gang are the sailors who work in the engine room, assigned to either the Machinist Division (his) or the Boiler Division. The term is used to this day. They range from sentimental to bawdy to downright explicit. The book opens with a very explicit song - The Young Stenographer - that seems to go on and on forever - 101 stanzas! Others are tiles a reader today may recognize including LeHigh Valley, Are You Lonely Tonight, Louise and Dangerous Dan McGrew. Columbus gets a bit of a bumpy ride in his rendition of Christopher Columbus. There are a couple of railroad songs. Many are sentimental in nature which reflects the long days and months away from home. The last song, Heil Hitler , is a very explicit description of what 'they' (meaning the Americans) were going to do with Hitler when they caught him. Throughout the allied armed forces there were similar types of songs about Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo. This is an interesting collection of songs that obviously were enjoyed in the enlisted ranks mess while ships were at sea. They would clearly be of interest to a naval historian or a casual researcher who was seeking to get an insight into the life of America's sailors in wartime.; Manuscript; 16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, 20TH CENTURY, INTERWAR PERIOD, SAILORS, LEWIS SZAREK; PROVIDENCE RI; USS COUGHLAN; UNITED STATES NAVY; AMERICAN SAILORS, SAILORS SONGS; SAILOR SONGBOOKS, US NAVY AT WAR, WW2, SECOND WORLD WAR, 1920S, 1930S, 1940S, BLACK GANG (SHIP), , MARITIME SONGS, SEA SONG LYRICS, DITTIES, WORLD WAR 2 SONGS, MARITIME FOLKLORE, WARTIME FOLKLORE, RAILROAD SONGS, TRAIN SONGS, POETRY, SEA CHANTEYS, BAWDY SONGS, AMERICANA, HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, DOCUMENT, LETTER, AUTOGRAPH, WRITER, HAND WRITTEN, DOCUMENTS, SIGNED, LETTERS, MANUSCRIPTS, DIARY, DIARIES, JOURNALS, PERSONAL HISTORY, SOCIAL HISTORY, HISTORICAL, HOLOGRAPH, WRITERS, AUTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL, MEMOIR, MEMORIAL, ANTIQUITÉ, CONTRAT, VÉLIN, DOCUMENT, MANUSCRIT, PAPIER ANTIKE, BRIEF, PERGAMENT, DOKUMENT, MANUSKRIPT, PAPIER OGGETTO D'ANTIQUARIATO, ATTO, VELINA, DOCUMENTO, MANOSCRITTO, CARTA ANTIGÜEDAD, HECHO, VITELA, DOCUMENTO, MANUSCRITO, PAPEL