A rather incongruous combination of drinking song and Christian hymn, A Drop of Nelson’s Blood refers, unsurprisingly, to British naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson.
The context for the drinking song/Christian hymn angle is that the “and we’ll roll the old chariot along” is apparently originates in a gospel song that proved popular with the Salvation Army. I’m admittedly not entirely clear on how it ended up as a sea shanty.
The context of the Horatio Nelson angle is that Nelson is likely Britain’s most famous naval hero, and probably in the five top of British war heroes overall. Famous for signalling to his fleet that “England expects that every man will do his duty” — as seen here:
are visible on the Victory‘s mainmast.
The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805: J.M.W. Turner.
Image via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
— and then promptly dying in the course of doing his own duty, Nelson is best known for his victory at Trafalgar, though he had previously won or fought at several prior naval engagements earlier in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Which sets the scene nicely to explain just how we got to a sea shanty called A Drop of Nelson’s Blood.
Although Nelson was fatally wounded while the battle was still going on, he did live long enough to be made aware of the British victory. After succumbing to his wounds, Nelson was placed in a cask of either brandy or rum to prevent… um, spoilage.
Supposedly, the sailors aboard the ship would sneak drinks from said cask. I guess the distinct aftertaste of Dead Guy isn’t enough to dissuade you from a chance at the Good Stuff when you’re stuck in the floating hell that is the 19th-century Royal Navy.
Hence, “Nelson’s Blood” refers to liquor, and the fact that a drop of it wouldn’t do us any harm is basically an exhortation to keep drinking.
A more charitable interpretation that the shanty is not, in fact, a drinking song holds that “Nelson’s Blood” refers to the Admirals heroism and patriotism and a drop of it not doing any harm instead means that we should all be more like the good Admiral.
Though, for what it’s worth, most of the versions I’ve heard are very clearly drinking songs…
As is invariably the case with folk music, there are infinite variations of the song. The list of more things that “wouldn’t do us any harm”, while usually alcoholic, inevitably changes between versions.
And, of course, because it’s both a drinking song and a sea shanty, it’s very much a crowd song.
But the lyrics do usually follow this kind of pattern:
“Well, [Thing] wouldn’t do us any harm. [3x]
And we’ll all hang on behind.
And we’ll roll the old chariot along [3x]
And we’ll all hang on behind.”
Again, this is one of those things (i.e. music) that’s easier to demonstrate in song that in text, so here’s A Drop of Nelson’s Blood performed by Sea Shanty and Pirate Cosplay Aficionados The Jolly Rogers:
Now, the conceit of their performance of the song is that they’re on stage at some kind of pirate tavern, so they walk their audience through the fact that it’s supposed to be a call and response song.
And in doing so, they’re creating a a bit of an anachronism here. They’re clearly cosplaying the Golden Age of Piracy (approximately the 1650s through 1730s). To the point that the preamble to the song involves them yelling at Treasure Island character Billy Bones. I don’t think it’s ever made clear when exactly Treasure Island takes place, beyond “too early for Horatio Nelson to have songs written about him.”
So, basically, they shouldn’t be singing about Nelson’s blood, because the incident that gave rise to the expression hasn’t happened yet in the time period they’re recreating.
But, like, it’s a band with a stage persona, not a serious historical document, so as much as I can’t stop myself from going “Waaaaaaait a minute.”
Honestly, I’m less bothered by that than I am about why a sea shanty is singing about riding chariots.
And, hey, speaking of chariots:
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