Wellerman
You might remember it as ShantyTok, Nathan Evans Wellerman
Latest viral6 of 24
The sea-shanty revival that showed short-video duetting could build collaborative performance.
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- ShantyTok
- Spread in
- 2021
- Began as
- A video upload
- Format
- Video
- Performed by
- Nathan Evans, a Scottish singer, in the version that spread
- Taken from
- A New Zealand folk song, first written down in 1966 from a man in his eighties
- Where it started
- TikTok, where the trend was called ShantyTok
- Origin
- Origin not yet established
- Available
- Playable from the source
Why it matteredWhat changed
A New Zealand whaling song of unknown age went to number one in several countries after a Scottish singer’s cover spread on TikTok, and gave the habit of performing sea songs there a name.
TimelineIn order
- Made
The Weller brothers found a whaling station at Otago Heads in New Zealand. Their supply ships, and the men who worked them, are the wellermen of the song.1
- Found
The folk-song collector Neil Colquhoun takes the song down from a man in his eighties. It is published in his songbook in 1973.1
- Remixed
The Longest Johns record a version on their album Between Wind and Water.1
- Mainstream
Nathan Evans’s cover, already spreading on TikTok, is released as a single on Polydor, with a remix by 220 Kid and Billen Ted the same day. The remix reaches number one in the United Kingdom.1 What else happened on 22 January
The version you rememberNot the same thing
A cover by a Scottish singer that spread on TikTok in early 2021.1
Taken down by Neil Colquhoun and published in 1973. Where it came from before that is not known.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asA sea shanty.
ActuallyMore accurately a ballad, a forebitter or a sea song.1
Commonly remembered asA song by Nathan Evans.
ActuallyA traditional song of unknown authorship, documented in New Zealand in 1966. Evans’s recording is a cover.1
More from hereIn this collection
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · a moment that changed what the internet did next · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
Originally published on TikTok. The version shown here is an official copy on YouTube, published by a rights holder.
Where it came fromWhat we know
Original source uncertain. This is the earliest copy currently known.
View the official copy on YouTube
No original upload has been established for this record. The index is showing the earliest copy it currently knows about, and says so rather than guessing.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things