DESCRIPTION:
“Going Back to Weldon” is a song best known to the world through the repertoire of the now-defunct Menhaden Chanteymen of Beaufort, North Carolina. Under the auspices of the North Carolina Folklife Institute, this group of ex-fishermen, who once sang chanties during their labor, formed to present their repertoire to audiences in 1989. Their 1990 cassette recording included “Weldon,” and subsequent performances at places like Mystic Seaport helped to disseminate their songs amongst aficionados of maritime music.

The present performance took place during a session with another ex-fishermen’s group, The Northern Neck Chantey Singers of Virginia, on 13 June, 2015, during the Mystic Sea Music Festival. Though “Weldon” is not officially a part of their repertoire, the Virginia men invited event coordinator (and local Mystic musician and chantyman) Craig Edwards to lead this "menhaden chantey” that was known to be in his repertoire.

There was a transformative moment in this performance where Edwards was presumably about to sing lyrics learned from the North Carolina men, but the Virginia men effortlessly swapped a few words in a way that created a much clearer, albeit different, message.

In the N.C. version (at least according to their cassette’s liner notes), the lines go:
"The Captain's got a Luger, Luger, Luger / And the mate’s got a owl head [type of pistol]”
Whereas here the men sing,
“The Captain’s got a new girl, new girl, new girl / And the mate’s got his eye on her"