The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #128220 Message #2892379
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
22-Apr-10 - 07:18 PM
Thread Name: The Advent and Development of Chanties
Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
In the novel BLAKE; OR THE HUTS OF AMERICA, the first, relevant parts of which appeared in a periodical in 1859, M.R. Delany includes the following in reference to a riverboat on the Upper Mississippi:
...the boated glided steadily up the stream, seemingly in unison with the lively though rude and sorrowful song of the black firemen:
I'm a-goin' to Texas--O! O-O-O!
I'm a-goin' to Texas--O! O-O-O!
Looks like it could be a variation of the SAILOR FIREMAN.