The Shanty Hounds creed and motto:
"If you're not having fun, I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to leave"
"If you're not having fun, I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to leave"
The song that kicks off The Shanty Hounds newly released album Unleashed! is “Yippie Cayo Hueso!” Here are some fun facts about the song!
- Cayo Hueso is Key West's name in Spanish. Interestingly enough, it does not translate to Key West! When the Spanish first came to Key West they found human bones, the result of a native American war that had taken place, on the beach. Because of this, they named the island Cayo Hueso, which translates to Bone Key. When the English obtained the island chain in 1763, they thought Cayo Hueso ( say: cai o WAY so) it meant Key West, as it sounds phonetically similar and Key West is the farthermost island in the archipelago that had fresh water. Today, many will say it translates to “Bone Island”. Technically this is incorrect. If that were the case the Spanish name would be “Isla Hueso”. Of course a key is a low lying island...
- The song actually starts out with the chorus This is not all that common, but I've never followed the rules anyway! :-D
- In the chorus the last line is “An island in the stream”. Yes, this is a tip of the hat to former resident and author, Ernest Hemingway, who wrote the book “Islands In The Stream”. The islands in the book were Key West, Cuba, and Bimini. Hemingway owned the house on Whitehead Street until his death.
- In the first verse there is the line “Sailing out to Sand Key, a little bit north of the light” Sand Key these days is a shoal, not a key. It used to be a key however until a hurricane wiped it out, save for the lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper and her five children were tragically killed in the storm. The keepers house was destroyed, but the light was still in tact. The sands are always shifting. Islands pop up all the time. It's ever changing, so who knows if it will someday become a key again?
- If you've ever had the pleasure of watching pelicans fly/glide inches above the water, you'll agree that it's a feat of grace before your eyes. The line “Pelican flies like a B25 a half a foot above the waves” is a salute to Lt. Col. James Doolittle and his fleet of B25s involved in “The Doolittle Raid” in WW II. They flew inches over the water .. under the radar... really!
6) I wrote the entire song, however you'll notice Joseph Gowran is credited with co-writing it. Shortly after I wrote it I was showing Joe and our friend Gary the song. They both said that Joe often used the phrase “Yippie Cayo Hueso”. I had no recollection of it, but we hung out a good deal, so I must have. Because of that, I credited him with the co-write. 99.99% of songwriters don't do this. My feeling is that if, in this case, Joe never said it, the song wouldn't exist, so he gets a co-write credit. I did the same thing with my song “Raise My Glass To The Upper Forty-Eight” and my friend George Cornejo.
7) The song has something so extremely rare in the annals of Rock that the percentage would calculate something like .000,000,000,000,001%! "Yippie Cayo Hueso" has a rhythm guitar solo. Again, we like doing things others don't do, so long as it works. The rhythm guitar solo on Yippie Cayo Hueso works.
7) The song has something so extremely rare in the annals of Rock that the percentage would calculate something like .000,000,000,000,001%! "Yippie Cayo Hueso" has a rhythm guitar solo. Again, we like doing things others don't do, so long as it works. The rhythm guitar solo on Yippie Cayo Hueso works.
8) The song was written on February 23rd, 2013.
The song and album are available through all the major distributors. See the links below!
Note: The author has been a BMI Nashville published songwriter since 2000 with McClure and Trowbridge Publishing, Nashville, Tn.
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Please check out The Shanty Hounds NEW LIVE RELEASE!!!
“Unleashed! Live at Grunts – Key West”
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Please check out my book "Time Traveler - The Oddities and Adventures of a Key West Bartender". Follow Mark Straight's continuing journies and friendships from current Key West, back to historical Key West and elsewhere!
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Enjoy the sound of the Keys!
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