Tears were shed and a few notes caught in the throat but Danny Spooner would have been proud of the send-off he got on Saturday afternoon.
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The shanty session, which Spooner led each year at the wharf, was held at the surf club and served as an opportunity to pay tribute to the singer.
His friends, some of whom have been singing with him for more than 40 years, ran through many of the shanties Danny knew and loved in front of a full house in an emotional performance.
Brian O’Donoghue, who hosted the Folkie’s first shanty sessions before being joined by Spooner, said the death of his friend was “so devastating”.
“We weren’t expecting it – he was booked to be singing today,” O’Donoghue said.
“He was such an inspiration to everyone he met. He wanted everyone to sing. Wherever he lived he got a folk group going, mainly of people who thought they couldn’t sing. He used to maintain that if you couldn’t sing you wouldn’t be able to speak with any inflection.”
Tin Shed Singers leader Philip Shaw told the shanty session crowd Spooner was “a supremely generous man”.
“He would sing wherever singing needed to be done,” Shaw said.
“It was always a wonderful time when Danny would come and sing with us.”
Former festival program director and friend Jamie McKew said it was sad to think Spooner had played his last Folkie after almost 40 years.
“He learnt his songs and the art of singing and the seafaring tradition on the job on (a boat) on the other side of the world,” McKew said.
“We’re very fortunate he thought to sail on a ship to the other side of the world. And it was fortunate he came at a time when folk music was taking off here and we were about to start the folk festival. He was the perfect match for Port Fairy, given his qualities as a person, and a wonderful singer, and his knowledge.
“He was a generous person and he gathered friends like bees to a flower. He really filled out that area of the festival program that we might not have been able to do without a special person like Danny Spooner. He was one of the best and most knowledgeable shanty singers in the world, and that’s why he was invited to festivals around the world.”
