Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)

Subject: ADD Version: The Erie Canal
From: GUEST,Norton1
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 02:34 PM

THE ERIE CANAL

(G)We were forty miles from Albany and
(C)Forget it I (D)never (G)shall
What a (C)terrible (D)storm we (G)had that (C)night
On the (G)Er-i(D)-e (G)Canal
On The Er-i(D)-e (G)Canal

Our Captain he came up on deck
With a spyglass in his hand
And the fog it was so tarnald thick
That he could not spy the land
That he could not spy the land

chorus
(G)Oh the Erie was a risin' and the
(C)Gin was a (D)gettin' (G)low
And I (C) did not (D)think we'd (G)get a (C)drink
Till we (G)got to (D)Buffa(G)lo ho ho
Till we got to (D)Buffa(G)lo

We were loaded down with Barley
We were chock up full of Rye
And the Captain he looked down at me
With his dirty wicked eye
With his dirty wicked eye

Two days out of Syracuse
Our vessel struck a shoal
And we all like to been foundered
On a chunk of Lackawanna Coal
On a chunk of Lackawanna coal

Chorus

We hollared to the Captain
On the towpath treadin dirt
He jumped on board and stopped that leak
With his old red flannel shirt
With his old red flannel shirt

Our cook she was a grand old gal
She wore a ragged dress
We hoisted her upon a pole
As a signal of distress
As a signal of distress

chorus

When we got to Syracuse
The off mule he was dead
The nigh mule had blind staggers
So we cracked him on the head
And we cracked him on the head

Oh the girls are in the Police Gazette
And the crew is all in jail
And I'm the only Sea Cook's son
That is left to tell the tale
That's left to tell the tale

chorus

I play it quite briskly but have only my own imagination as to the credibility of the Key and chord progression. I know I heard it somewhere 30+ years ago so the tune is valid. Enjoy :-) Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: The Erie Canal
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 04:49 PM

You give a couple verses that Burl Ives didn't have--or at least didn't record. Some trifling differences in wording here and there. I'm surprised if this isn't already in the DT.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Origins: The E-Ri-E (Erie Canal)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 05:04 PM

I found the song in the Digital Tradition by searching for [miles from Albany] because I figured there would be no variation in spelling in that phrase. The version in the database (click) is almost the same, but it doesn't have the great verse Steve posted about the fog. A search for Eriecan* (based on the file name at the end of the song) brings up more, like this one (click) - same song, but different. This one (click) is interesting, too.
Forgive me for making a commercial announcement, but our friends at Folk-Legacy Records have a new CD from George Ward called Oh, That Low Bridge! - Songs of the Erie Canal. Good stuff.
-Joe Offer-

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Here's the entry on this song from the Traditional Ballad Index:

E-ri-e, The

DESCRIPTION: About a "terrible storm" on the Erie Canal. "Oh, the E-ri-e was a-rising And the gin was a-getting low, And I scarcely think we'll get a little drink Till we get to Buffalo." Humorous anecdotes of a highly hazardous voyage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: canal humorous cook animal wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1825 - Erie Canal opens (construction began in 1817)
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Creighton-Maritime, p. 144, "It's Let Go Your Bowline" (1 text, 1 tune)
ThompsonNewYork, pp. 245-246, "(no title)" (assorted excerpts; see also "Black Rock Pork" on pp. 243-244, which includes much of this song although without a chorus); pp. 250-251, "The E-ri-e" (1 text)
Sandburg, p. 180, "The E-ri-e" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 45, "The E-ri-e" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 470-471, "The E-ri-e" (1 text, 1 tune); see also pp. 455-457, "Ballad of the Erie Canal" (1 text, composite and probably containing stanzaswhich belong here); pp. 459-463, "The Erie Canal Ballad" (8 texts, some fragmentary, the fourth of which appears to belong here)
Cohen-AFS1, pp. 103-104, "The E-ri-e" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 333-335, "The Erie Canal" (1 text)
Arnett, p. 56, "The Erie Canal" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 87, "Erie Canal" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 43, "E-ri-e" (1 text)
DT, ERICANL1 ERIECNL3*
Roud #6599
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Erie Canal" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Raging Canal (I)" (plot)
cf. "A Trip on the Erie (Haul in Your Bowline)" (plot)
cf. "The Erie Canal"
cf. "Black Rock Pork" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Canalman's Farewel (Lay Me on the Horse-Bridge)" (lyrics)
cf. "The Calabar" (theme)
cf. "Stormy Weather Boys" (subject)
cf. "The Farmington Canal Song" (theme)
cf. ""The Wreck of the Mary Jane"" (theme)
cf. "The Wreck of the Varty" (theme)
cf. "On Board the Bugaboo" (theme)
cf. "Changing Berth" (theme)
cf. "The Wreck of the Gwendoline" (theme)
cf. "The Fish and Chip Ship" (theme)
cf. "The Shipwreck on the Lagan Canal" (theme)
NOTES: The Erie Canal, as originally constructed, was a completely flat, shallow waterway. The barges were drawn along by mules. Thus, apart from getting wet, storms posed little danger, and the only way one could run aground was to run into trash that had fallen into the canal.
As for needing a distress signal ("We h'isted (the cook) upon the pole
As a signal of distress"), one could always step off onto dry land....
The Lomaxes, in American Ballad and Folk Songs, thoroughly mingled many texts of the Erie Canal songs (in fairness, some of this may have been the work of their informants -- but in any case the Lomaxes did not help the problem). One should check all the Erie Canal songs for related stanzas.
Dan Milner, in the essay "Collecting Occupational Songs" in Scott B. Spencer, editor, The Ballad Collectors of North America, Scarecrow Press, 2012, pp. 198-199, observes that it is not known whether this song derives from the Harrigan and Hart piece "Buffalo" (printed 1878) or vice versa. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.0
File: LxU045

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Here are the lyrics we have in the Digital Tradition:

E-RI-E CANAL

We were forty miles from Albany
Forget it I never shall.
What a terrible storm we had one night
On the E-ri-e Canal.

cho: O the E-ri-e was a-rising
And the gin was a-getting low.
And I scarcely think we'll get a drink
Till we get to Buff-a-lo-o-o
Till we get to Buffalo.

We were loaded down with barley
We were chock-full up on rye.
The captain he looked down at me
With his gol-durned wicked eye.

Two days out from Syracuse
The vessel struck a shoal;
We like to all be foundered
On a chunk o' Lackawanna coal.

We hollered to the captain
On the towpath, treadin' dirt
He jumped on board and stopped the leak
With his old red flannel shirt.

The cook she was a grand old gal
Stood six foot in her socks.
Had a foot just like an elephant
And her breath would open locks.

The wind begins to whistle
The waves begin to roll
We had to reef our royals
On that ragin' canal.

The cook came to our rescue
She had a ragged dress;
We h'isted her upon the pole
As a signal of distress.

When we got to Syracuse
Off-mule, he was dead;
The nigh mule got blind staggers
We cracked him on the head.

The cook is in the Police Gazette
The captain went to jail;
And I'm the only son-of-a-gub
That's left to tell the tale.

@canal
filename[ ERIECNL3
TUNE FILE: ERIECNL3
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: The Erie Canal
From: GUEST,Norton1
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 05:20 PM

I searched the database and apparently was to narrow in my search. I didn't find it! Burl Ives did indeed sing it but I heard it from an old timer up on the South Fork of the Salmon River in 1974-5. He told a story of one of his ancestors teaching it to him - George Fritzer, the guy I learned it from, was a character and I would guess his family may have been involved in the canal's use. He was in his 80s at the time I knew him. If you look on a topo map of Idaho, find the South Fork of the Salmon River and then between Pidgeoun creek and Bear Creek is Fritzer Creek. He lived there until his death in the early 80s. I lived on Pidgeon Creek for a time. Glad to be able to repay you all for some of the songs I've received here! Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: The Erie Canal
From: Arkie
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 01:18 AM

I read a few nights ago that one of the reasons the Erie Canal was constructed was to transport salt from the mines near Syracuse and that the canal was nicknamed "the ditch that salt built". Anyone know anything to verify this?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: The Erie Canal
From: georgeward
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:10 AM

Arkie, salt was certainly a prime canal cargo. The village of Salina preceded the city of Syracuse and was named for the salt (which was not exactly mined, but dissolved in water pumped below ground and then back to the surface; The resulting brine was then evaporated to reclaim the salt - if my memory of 7th grade science is still worth anything, this is called the solvay process). But many more factors went into the decision to build the canal, not least the need to bind together politically a sprawling country still vulnerable to the colonial ambitions of European powers, regional conflicts and its own limited lines of communication. Salt alone would not have done it. It certainly would not have justified building the canal all the way from the Hudson river to Lake Erie. -George ::-.--O

Subject: ADD Version: The E-Ri-E (Sandburg & Lomax)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jul 08 - 04:38 AM

Not much in Sandburg or Lomax & Lomax:

The E-RI-E
(no songwriter attribution)

We were forty miles from Albany,
Forget it I never shall,
What a terrible storm we had one night
On the E-ri-e Canal.

Refrain:
Oh, the E-ri-e was a-rising,
The gin * was getting low,
And I scarcely think
We'll get a drink
Till we get to Buffalo,
Till we get to Buffalo.

We were loaded down with barley,
We were chock-up full of rye;
And the captain he looked down at me
With his goddam wicked eye.
REFRAIN

Oh, the girls are in the Police Gazette,
The crew are all in jail;
I'm the only living sea cook's son
That's left to tell the tale.
REFRAIN


from Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag (1927), pp. 180-181. Sandburg says, "We have this text and tune from Robert Wolfe and Oliver R. Barnett of Chicago."

*In Walter D. Edmonds's Rome Haul, "strap."

The Sandburg text also appears in American Ballads & Folk Songs, John A. & Allan Lomax (1934), pp. 470-471

Subject: ADD Version: The E-Ri-E (Lomax)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jul 08 - 05:02 AM

This is #45 in Best Loved American Folk Songs (Folk Song U.S.A.), by John & Alan Lomax (1947), page 146-147.


THE E-RI-E

We were forty miles from Albany,
Forget it, I never shall,
What a terrible storm we had one night
On the E-RI-E Canal

We were loaded down with barley,
We were chock-up full of rye;
And the Captain he looked down on me
With a gol-durn wicked eye.

CHORUS
O the E-RI-E was a-risin'
And the gin was a-gittin' low,
And I scarcely think we'll get a drink
Till we get to Buffalo-o-o
Till we get to Buffalo

Two days out from Syracuse
The vessel struck a shoal
And we like to all been foundered
On a chunk o' Lackawanna coal.

We hollered to the captain
On the towpath, treadin' dirt
He jumped on board and stopped the leak
With his old red flannel shirt.

CHORUS

The cook she was a kind old soul,
She had a ragged dress,
We heisted her upon a pole
As a signal of distress.

The winds began to whistle
And the waves began to roll
And we had to reef our royals
On the raging Canawl

CHORUS

When we got to Syracuse
The off-mule he was dead
The nigh mule got blind staggers
And we cracked him on the head

The captain, he got married,
The cook, she went to jail
And I'm the only son-of-a-gun
That's left to tell the tale.

CHORUS

(It is customary to sing the chorus every other stanza)

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I checked the New American Songster, by Charles W. Darling (1992). It has a version of the song from the recording Frontier Ballads (Folkways FP 5003). It's the same as this Lomax version, except that "the cook she was a grand old gal." Pete Seeger's American Favorite Ballads (Oak, 1961), page 87; and Silber & Silber's Folksinger's Wordbook, page 43, have the same version as Darling.

Subject: DT Correction: Ballad of the Erie Canal (Lomax)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jul 08 - 06:05 AM

The Digital Tradition has two versions of the song. One is E-RI-E CANAL [ERIECNL3] - the source of this version is not shown. It's similar to the version in Best Loved American Folk Songs and other books, posted in the message just above.

The Second Digital Tradition version, THE ERIE CANAL [ERICANL1] is very strange. It's from American Ballads & Folk Songs, John A. & Allan Lomax (1934), pp. 455-457). Apparently, it's a Lomax compilation of verses collected in six different states. The DT version needs a few formatting corrections, so I'll post a corrected transcription here. There's no tune in the 1934 Lomax book.

THE BALLAD OF THE ERIE CANAL
(no songwriter attribution)

I am all the way from Buffalo,
Upon the good boat Danger,
A long, long trip we had, my boys,
I feel just like a stranger.
Petty fogs, artful storms,
Forget them I never shall;
I am every inch a sailor, boys,
On the Erie Canal.

Chorus:
So haul in yer bowlines,
Stand by the saddle mule;
Low bridge, boys, dodge yer head,
Don't stand up like a fool.
For the Erie is a-risin,
An' the whisky's gittin' low;
I hardly think we'll get a drink
Till we git to Buffalo.

We left Albany harbor
About the break of day;
If rightly I remember,
'Twas the second day of May.
We trusted to our driver;
Although he was but small,
Yet he knew all the windings
Of that raging Canawl.

Early every morning
Ye can hear the flunkies call,
Come aft and git your lime juice,
Come aft, one and all;
Come aft and git your lime juice,
And don't bring any back,
Before you git to Syracuse
Ye's goin' to get the sack.

Three days out from Albany
A pirate we did spy;
The black flag with the skull and bones
Was a-wavin' up on high;
We signaled to the driver
To h'ist the flag o' truce,
When we found it was the Mary Jane
Just out o' Syracuse.

Two days out from Syracuse
The vessel struck a shoal,
And we like to all been foundered
On a chunk of Lackawanna coal.
We hollered to the captain
On the towpath treadin' dirt;
He jumped on board and stopped the leak
With his old red flannel shirt.

The cook she was a kind soul
She had a ragged dress.
We h'isted her upon a pole
As a signal of distress;
The winds began to whistle
And the waves began to roll,
And we had to reef our royal
On the raging Canawl.

When we got to Syracuse
The off mule he was dead,
The nigh mule got blind staggers
And we cracked him on the head;
The captain he got married,
The cook she went to jail,
And I was the only son of a bitch
That's left to tell the tale.

Four long days we sailed the Hudson,
Sal and I and Hank,
We greased ourselves with tallow fat
And slid out on a plank;
The crew are in the poorhouse,
The captain he's in jail,
And I'm the sole survivin' man
That's left to tell the tale.

From American Ballads and Folk Songs, Lomax
@canal @sailor @work
filename[ ERICANL1
RG

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There are two other related songs in the Digital Tradition, From Buffalo to Troy and The Raging Canal. They have many similar elements, but I don't know that I'd say that they're the same song as the E-RI-E ones.

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So far, the earliest version I've found is Sandburg (1927). Sandburg's source is Robert Wolfe and Oliver R. Barnett of Chicago - no idea who they are.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Don Firth
Date: 02 Dec 10 - 07:52 PM

??

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: tritoneman
Date: 03 Dec 10 - 06:52 PM

The first time I heard The Erie Canal it was sung by Pete Seeger on an extended two part programme he did on the old BBC Third programme radio station -later Radio 3.

I think Bruce Springsteen breathed new life into the song on his Seeger Sessions album.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: GUEST,Doug Olsen
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 09:41 PM

For no apparent reason the song popped into my head, and I realized I was taught to sing it in 8th grade, about 1962. Can you imagine an 8th grade music teacher today having his kids sing "And the gin was a-gettin' low" ?

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: cnd
Date: 12 Jul 22 - 01:33 PM

I've always enjoyed Oscar Brand's recording of this song, with Erik Darling, from American Drinking Songs, Riverside Records RLP 12-630, 1956. (There's a pretty putrid version available on YouTube but it has neither the spirit nor the musicality of this one). Here's the lyrics (my transcription) and liner notes from that album.

6. THE E-RI-E WAS RISING: I heard about the canal from a truckdriver who picked me up on the old Buffalo Road during a raging blizzard. He told me we were driving above the roaded-over Erie. The song was one created in the days when flatbottomed barges floated the busy and prosperous Canal--manned by flat-bottomed bargemen. The singer should sound as is he were looking at the world through rye-colored glasses. [NOTE: Brand hams this element of the song up a bit too much, in my opinion, in his recording, and pretends to sound progressively more inebriated in each successive stanza]

We was forty miles from Buffalo, forget it, I never shall
What a horrible storm we had one night on the E-RI-E Canal
I was plumb full up of barley, and gettin' full of rye
The Captain he looked down on me with a god-damn wicked eye-ey-ey
A god-damn wicked eye

CHORUS
And the E-RI-E was a-risin' and the gin was a-gittin' low
And I scarcely think we'll get a drink till we get to Buffalo-o-o
Get to Buffalo

Now, the cook she bright red hair and a blazing yeller dress
I heisted her up to the top of the mast as a signal of distress
But the winds begin to whistle and the waters begin to squall
We'd had to pull the signal down on the E-RI-E Cana-a-al
The E-RI-E Canal

CHORUS

Four days out of Albany, the barge hit on a shoal
We'd like to have been foundered on a chunk of Erie coal
I hollered to the hoggie on the towpath, treadin' dirt
He jumped aboard and plugged the leak with an old red flannel shi-i-irt
An old red flannel shirt

CHORUS

Halfway out of Syracuse, a pirate I did spy
I could see the skull 'n' crossbones, they 'ere waving up on high
So I shouted to the captain "heist the flag of truce"
He says "Ya drunken bum, it's the Mary Jane just out of Syracu-u-use
Just out of Syracuse

CHORUS

By the time we got to Syracuse, the high-mule, he was dead
The pilot had a broken leg so I shot him through the head
The girls are all in the police gazette, the captain, he's in jail
I'm the only living son-of-a-gun that's left to tell the ta-a-ale
Left to tell the tale

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: cnd
Date: 12 Jul 22 - 01:47 PM

And since I know Mudcat has its share of nautical enthusiasts, some info on the Mary Jane:

The Mary Jane was a bark in the canal area; in August 1869 it was noted that "Bark Mary Jane, sunk in St. Lawrence River; got up" (Marine Disasters on the Western Lakes during 1869).

Via Shipwrecks Near Chautauqua County, NY:

MARY JANE
Other names : none
Official no. : C ?
Type at loss : bark, wood, 3-mast (maybe schooner)
Build info : 1862, L. Shickluna, St. Catharines Ont.
Specs : 142x26x12, 345 t.
Date of loss : 1881, Nov 19
Place of loss : Long Point Cut, near Port Rowan, Ont.
Lake : Erie
Type of loss : storm
Loss of life : 9
Carrying : telegraph poles
Detail : Bound Port Hope. Ont. for Erie, PA., she was driven ashore by a storm and broke up. The first known of her fate was when wreckage washed ashore near Dunkirk, NY, on the 20th.
Owned by Capt. Flanagan and others of Toronto.
Ashore on Long Point in the fall of 1863 and not recovered until the following spring.
Another MARY JANE (US#90077) is shown in 1884 Merchant Vessels as "lost or otherwise out of service."

Some info on the first shipwreck in 1863, via History of the Great Lakes Vol. 2 by J.B. Mansfield (1899):

Captain McArthur was born in Edwardburg, Ontario, on July 12, 1847, son of Alexander and Barbara (Graham) McArthur. The father was born in Ireland and came to America with his parents, locating in Canada, where he met his wife. During the Canadian rebellion of 1837 he espoused the cause of the patriots, and as a volunteer partici-pated in several of the engagements with the Government troops. Some time after the close of the war he was commissioned pilot on the St. Lawrence river and sailed in the schooners Traveler, Gildersleeve, John Munn, and other vessels, retiring in 1855. Two years later he removed his family to Goderich, Ont., and purchasing a farm began to till the soil. It was in the spring of 1859 that Mr. McArthur began his lakefaring life as boy on the little standing-keel schooner Annexation, of 120 tons burden; she traded between Goderich and Montreal. The same year he served a short term in the schooner Wilson and bark Gem of Kingston. During the period between 1860 and 1864 he sailed before the mast in the barks Unadilla and Alexander, the Groton, Minnehaha, Minnie Williams, Trivola (which spring a leak off Oswego and after sailing to Kingston, sank), and bark Massillon, and as mate of the schooner Hercules. He was one of the crew of the bark Mary Jane when she went ashore on Long Point, Lake Erie, and capsized on the beach during a November gale; the entire crew remained at Port Rowan that winter.

All of this dates at least one version of the song to some time between 1862 and 1881, assuming the songwriter(s) were indeed basing the bit on the real bark of the same name.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Lighter
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 08:11 PM

Hi, Carter. Thanks for bringing this song to mind.

On Sept. 11, 1923, A. W. Cederstrom of El Dorado, Ark., wrote to Robert W. Gordon in Berkeley:

“Would like very much to get the words of a song that I heard when a boy, it is quite a lengthy song but I can only remember one verse of it;
        ‘The wind was blowing coldly, the gin is getting low,
        I can’t think we’ll get another drink
        Till we get to Buffalo.’

“I think it was called ‘The Storm on [the] Erie Canal’ have looked for [it] in old song books but so far have not been able to find it.”

Replying on Sept. 15, Gordon said the song was “unknown to me.”


Minneapolis Times (June 8, 1890):

"Men...stand on the corners and wail, 'The E-ri-e is rising; the gin is getting low."

Sandburg’s tune much resembles the first half of Thomas Rice’s minstrel piece “(Old)Johnny Boker” (or “Do Mr. Boker Do”), written before 1855.

Legman got a bawdy version from a 1920s manuscript but never printed it.

Some thirty-five years ago I heard a guy in his thirties sing the final stanza, "The cook she's in the whore house,/ And the captain he's in jail;/ And I'm the last damn son of a bitch/ That's left to tell the tale." The "tarnals" and "goldurns" in other versions he sang as "goddamns." All of this could have been his own doing - but it certainly sounds "folklike" to me!

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Lighter
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 03:46 PM

The version collected by Ivan Walton in 1933 from E. W. Armstrong and Edward Navin at Port Hope, Ont. Walton gives no info about Armstrong, but mentions that Navin was in his seventies and had spent twenty years on the Great Lakes:

                   THE E-RI-O CANAL

I just came down from Buffalo,
    On the good ship called the Danger,
A long, long trip on the Erie boys,
    An' I feel just like a stranger.
Terrible winds and heavy weather --
    Forget it I never shall
For I'm every inch a sailor boy
    On the E-ri-o Canal.

    Haul in your bo'lin',boys,
    Stand by your sorrel mule;
    Low bridge! Duck your head,
    Don't stand there like a fool.
    For the Erie she's a-risin',
    An' our gin is gittin' low;
    And I don't think I've had a drink
    Since we left old Buffalo.

At two days out we struck a fog,
    No land could we espy,
An' a pirate boat bore down on us
    With a goddamn wicked eye.
We hollered to the captain, boys,
    To hoist a flag of truce,
But it was the boat Three Sisters out
    Four days from Syracuse.

The next day out we struck a rock
    Of Lackawanna coal,
It gave the boat an awful shock
    And stove in quite a hole
We hollered to the driver
    On the towpath pattin' dirt,
An' hejumped aboard and stopped the leak
    With his lousy undershirt.

In two weeks time we reached the Hudson
    There was Sal and me and Hank,
We greased ourselves in tallow fat
    An' slid ashore on a plank;
Now Sal is in pest house,
    An' the rest of the cew's in jail,
An' I'm the only survivin' bum
    That's left to tell the tale.


And as for "hoggie" (mule driver), Buffalo Enquirer (Jan. 11, 1892):

"And the hoggie with his ten-foot lash/ Would make the leader squeal."

Schenectady Evening Star (Dec. 8, 1871):

"Two 'hoggies,' otherwise known as canal drivers, were brought before Justice Thomson this morning for intoxication. Five dollars each."

(Five bucks in 1871 had the buying power of about $120 today: a hefty fine for mule drivers.)

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Lighter
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 09:11 PM

A canal boat "Three Sisters" got some local newspaper coverage in 1837 for a robbery committed on board.

I feel that the song isn't nearly so old. There may have been a later boat of the same name, or the original may have remained canal-worthy for decades.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: cnd
Date: 17 Jul 22 - 04:37 PM

Good searching, Jonathan. I especially like the version by Armstrong, which is pretty different from many I've seen.

I believe there's a text available in The maritime "folksongs" of Edward Harrigan but my library's online access is being finnicky right now and isn't letting me access it.

I searched for info on the boat "Three Sisters" but didn't come up with anything.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Jul 22 - 08:17 PM

Here's the relevant part of Dan Milner's linked article:

Another presumed "folksong" attributed to Harrigan is "Buffalo." Harrigan's theatre company toured tirelessly, and the lyricist may have found the song's seed while barnstorming in upstate New York. For many years, most New York State students were taught a version of this song. One wonders whether it's still in the syllabus?

   From Buffalo I've just come down
   On the good boat Danger;
   A long, long trip on the Erie, boys,
   I feel just like a stranger.
   We'd heavy fogs, [and windy] storms,
   Forget 'em I never shall;
   I'm every inch a sailor boy,
   On the E-ri-a Canal.

   For the Erie is a rising,
   And the gin is getting low;
   I hardly think you'll get a drink,
   Till we get back to Buffalo.

   We were loaded down with barley,
   When we bid good-bye;
   When a pirate bore upon us,
   With an awful wicked eye.
   I saw him through the spy-glass,
   I put up a flag of [truce];
   I found it was the Three Sisters,
   Four days from Syracuse.

   Three days out we struck a rock,
   Of Lackawanna Coal;
   It gave the boat an awful shock,
   And stove in quite a hole.
   I halloed to the driver,
   On the tow-path's treaden dirt;
   He came aboard and stopped the leak,
   With his flannel undershirt.

_____________________

"Buffalo" appears to have been published in 1878, according to the Ballad Index.

The Sandburg version looks like a slightly "folk-revised" fragment of the original.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Jul 22 - 08:20 PM

Milner's entire article is here:

https://nyfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/Voices-2013a.pdf

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: cnd
Date: 18 Jul 22 - 08:24 AM

Good find, thanks!

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 Jul 22 - 09:53 AM

A comprehensive published collection of all these comic sea/canal journey songs would make a good book. There seems to be lots of them. The Calabar spawned a lot of localised versions this side of the pond. There are lots of Irish members of the genre as well. I think there are other American ones in some of the nineteenth century songsters.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Jul 22 - 01:29 PM

The way I recall the Weavers singing that verse it was The barge was full of barley and the crew was full of rye

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Lighter
Date: 18 Jul 22 - 03:24 PM

Check this thread:

/mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4589

Hullfish's "Canaller's Songbook" (1984) offers these words without an indicated source:

                         The Er-i-e

We were forty-nine miles from Albany,
Forget it I never shall.
What a terrible storm we had that night
On the Er-i-e Canal.

    Oh! the Er-i-e was a rising,
    And the gin was a getting low.
    And I scarcely think we'll get a drink
    'Til we get to Buffalo-o-o,
    'Til we get to Buffalo.

We were loaded down with barley,
We were chocked up full of rye,
And the Captain he looked down at me
With his Gol-durned wicked eye.

Our cook she was a grand old gal,
She wore a ragged dress
We hoisted her upon the mast,
As a signal of distress.

Lay Me on the horse-bridge,
With my feet up toward the bow,
And let it be a Lockport Laker
Or a Tonawanda scow.

Our Nell has got the blind staggers,
And Maude has got the heaves,
Black Tom has thrown his off-shoe,
And our driver's got the weaves.

Two days out from Syracuse
The vessel struck a shoal,
And we like to all been foundered,
On a chunk of Lackawanna coal.

I hollered to the driver,
On the towpath, treadin' dirt,
He jumped aboard and stopped the leak,
With his old red flannel shirt.

As we got into Buffalo,
It was but four o'clock,
The very firest man we chanced to meet,
Was Gilson on the dock.

Well, our Captain he got married,
And our cook she went to jail,
And I'm the only son-of-a-sea-cook,
That's left to tell the tale.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Lighter
Date: 18 Jul 22 - 06:38 PM

I can't explain that formatting.

Anyway, Harold Thompson's "Body, Boots & Britches" (1939) has the following, as collected by Allen Walsh of Buffalo "from versions given by Captain Jake Oatman and Captain Wesley Thomas":

(Hullfish's "horse bridge" stanza)

(Nell's blind staggers)

("Gilson on the dock," followed by:)

Says he, "What's all the noise?"
Says he, "What team is that?"
"Itt's Yorker Min and Goose-Neck Tim,
And we're both a-gettin' fat."


The chorus is:

For the Erie is a-ragin',
And our gin is gettin' low;
Oh, I hardly think we'll get a drink
Till we get to Buffalo.

Subject: RE: Origins: The Erie Canal (E-Ri-E)
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Jul 22 - 12:54 PM

Here is the original text of Harrigan's "Buffalo," as it appeared in "Harrigan and Hart's Mulligan Guards Songster" (1873). No tune is given:

                            BUFFALO.
                   Written by NED HARRIGAN

   From Buffalo I've just come down
      On the good boat Danger;
   A long, long trip on the Erie, boys,
      I feel just like a stranger.
   We'd heavy fogs, aaf wlnud [sic] storms,
      Forget 'em I never shall;
   I'm every inch a sailor boy,
      On the E-ri-a Canal.
                  
                   CHORUS.
   For the Erie is a rising,
      And the gin is getting low;
   I hardly think you'll get a drink,
      Till we get back to Buffalo.

   We were loaded down with barley,
      When we bid good-bye;
   When a pirate bore upon us,
      With an awful wicked eye.
   I saw him through the spy-glass,
      I put up a flag of truce;
   I saw it was the Three Sisters,
      Four days from Syracuse.
                   For the Erie, &c.

   Three days' out we struck a rock,
      Of Lackawanna Coal;
   It gave the boat an awful shock,
      And stove in quite a hole.
   I halloed to the driver,
      On the tow-path's treaden dirt;
   He came aboard and stopped the leak,
      With his flannel undershirt.
                   For the Erie, &c.

In two years we reached the Hudson.
      We hadn't slept a wink;
The crew mutinized
      Because I refused to drink.
Keep up your courage, then I cried,
      I'll safely bring you in;
And when we strike a grocery store,
      We'll swim in barrels of gin.
                   For the Erie, &c.

The storm went down, we went ashore,
      Me and Sal and Hank;
Greased ourselves with tallow-fat
      And slid out on a plank.
Sal is in the Poor House, boys,
      The crew is all in jail,
I'm the sole surviving moke,
      Left to tell the tale.

SPOKEN:
   
So haul in your bow-line,
      Stand by your sorrel mule,
Low bridge, boys, dodge your heads;
      Don't act just like a fool.

This is a very abrupt ending. Its location at the very bottom of the page suggests that "For the Erie, &c." may have been omitted.

"Moke" means here a stupid or worthless person. (It may be the source of current "mook," idiot.)