The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #79100   Message #3191805
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
21-Jul-11 - 01:19 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Rio Grande (sailors)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rio Grande (sailors)
1888        Dickens, Charles, ed. [Unknown] "Sailors' Songs." _All the Year Round_ 1047 (22 Dec. 1888): 592-

Reproduces Smith's version with the "Southron Star." Possibly written by Smith?


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1898[1894]        Brewer, Ebenezer, Cobham. _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_. New edition, revised. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus.

An entry in a slang dictionary.

Shanty Songs. Songs sung by sailors at work, to ensure united action. They are in sets, each of which has a different cadence adapted to the work in hand. Thus, in sheeting topsails, weighing anchor, etc., one of the most popular of the shanty songs runs thus :—

"I'm bound away, this very day.
I'm bound for the Rio Grande.
Ho, you, Rio!
Then fare you well, my bonny blue bell,
I'm bound for the Rio Grande."