Recently I've found several versions of Soran Bushi, and this puzzles me-I
don't understand why it would be different in different places. Moreover, I
don't understand some of the vocabulary in it:

> 声を嗄れよと 唄声上げて

しわがれる is to become hoarse, should it be よう and が instead of を？

> 腕もちぎれよ 舞姿 チョイ

ちぎれる is to be torn? Again what is the よ？ Volitional form?

> ヤサエ エンヤ－  
>  ねじりハチマキ 長袢天は

What does ながばんてん mean?

> 踊れ踊れと ソーラン節よ

れ-is this imperative?

> オラが多喜雄のソーラン節は

Is オラ suppose to be the I-pronoun?

> 今じゃ北海道の 南中節よ  
>  ヤサエ エンヤ－  
>  サーノドッコイショ

Now that I look at the last part, it seems like this is a remake of Soran
Bushi, but I don't know why it's the most popular on the English Youtube then.
Also, even with respect to the "normal" Soran Bushi, I have yet to be able to
find a consistent ordering of the verses.

Lastly, what does ソーラン mean?
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2013-10-09T23:29:49.173
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2013-10-10T21:31:12.713
2013-10-10T01:39:06.890
question
meaning classical-japanese music
History and Meaning of Soran Bushi
Regarding why you find different lyrics in different places - this is pretty
much true for most folk songs in most languages, either due to regional
variants or improvisation. For example, famous songs such as "Drunken Sailor"
often have various additional/optional verses.

In this specific case, the Japanese wikipedia article on
[鰊場作業唄](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%B0%8A%E5%A0%B4%E4%BD%9C%E6%A5%AD%E5%94%84)
describes the format as 沖揚げ音頭 surrounded by 囃子詞｛はやしことば｝like ソーラン and ドッコイショ.
These would be working songs, so many of the words are simply there to keep a
rhythm going when people are doing some joint work that requires them to keep
in rhythm (hauling in nets, for example).

```

    ヤーレンソーランソーラン ヤレン ソーランソーラン ハイハイ
    鰊来たかと鴎に訊けば わたしゃ発つ鳥 波に聞け チョイ  ← 沖揚げ音頭
    ヤサエンエンヤーーーァサーァノ ドッコイショ ハードッコイショドッコイショ 
    
```

And, unsurprisingly, sometimes the 沖揚げ音頭 include deliberately rude/lewd verses
(listed in the above linked wikipedia article under 卑猥な歌詞の一例)

The version you quote appears to have been popularised in the 1980s and is
often performed by school groups, so not so surprising that it's popular on
places like youtube. (description in English
[here](http://www.enma.org/2013/pa/soranbushi.htm)).
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answer