Lyr Req: Oh Joe the Boat's Going Over

Subject: Oh Joe The Boat Is Going Over
From:
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 03:19 PM

Does anyone know any verses to go with the following Chorus, set to a well-used English traditional tune:- "Oh Joe-the boat is going over Oh Joe-you naughty boy she cried Oh Joe I wish you were in Dover, Ever ere you took me on the water for a ride." It's a lovely tune, and I don't know anyone else who's heard the chorus except me and the woman who taught (from Suffolk, England) so I hope someone might be able to help. Thanks. Maggie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Joe The Boat Is Going Over
From: Sorcha
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 03:50 PM

wav file here (click) Couldn't find any lyrics, tho, just recordings.

Subject: Lyr Add: OH JOE THE BOAT'S GOING OVER^^
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 24 Jun 01 - 04:42 PM

This Music Hall song (which I think I've seen attributed to one John Read) has enjoyed great popularity as a polka tune, particularly in East Anglia. There's a soundclip of Reg Reader of Leiston playing the tune on hammered dulcimer at  Musical Traditions

Sing, Say or Pay! Part 3  A Survey of East Suffolk Country Music by Keith Summers.

OH JOE! THE BOAT'S GOING OVER

I loved a charming creature, such a very timid maid,
She can stand almost anything but of water she's afraid,
She'll have a tidy fortune when her uncle dies some day,
While on a voyage to Dover once, that girl to me did say.

Oh! Joe the boat's going over,
Oh! Joe you naughty man she cried,
Oh! Joe I wish you'd been in Dover,
Before you ever took me on the water for a ride.

The weind was blowing rather rough she clung so tight to me,
The boat began to pitch and toss, all on the briny sea,
She looked so wild she cried aloud in a frantic sort of way,
Her arms she flung around my neck and then to me did say-

I told Matilda don't be afraid now there's a dear,
With a smile she looked into my face, and gave me such a leer,
A kiss then on her cheek I stole, oh, she seemed rather shy,
And while I was kissing her, that girl to me did cry-

We landed safe in Dover, her uncle there we found,
He died two days after that, and left her eight hundred pounds.
I made Matilda my dear wife we're so happy night and day,
While sitting by her fireside sometimes she'll say-

Text from a broadside at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:  (Printer and date unknown):  Oh, Joe! the boat's going over/ The warrior's little boy

There's another text, apparently attributed to C. Sheard of High Holborn -completely different apart from the chorus- on a large songsheet,  Miss Victor's Songs  (View 3 of 8), printed between 1877 and 1884 by Richard March & Co., St. James's Walk, London, E.C.

OH, JOE, THE BOAT'S GOING OVER

(?C. Sheard, High Holborn, late 19th century)

It happen'd on one afternoon in the month of May,
While walking out with a pretty little girl, I unto her did say;
Will you go, Miss, for a row, as we stood on the shore,
'Twill do you good, she exclaim'd it would, as she'd not been there before.

[Spoken: -And like a fool I hired a boat and when we got on the water, just because the boat began to rock a bit she exclaimed--]

Chorus:

Oh! Joe, the boat's a going over,
Oh! Joe, you naughty man, she cried,
Oh! Joe, I wish you'd been at Dover,
Ere you ever took me on the water for a ride.

I pull'd again with all my might, had not gone very far,
Before the girl commenced to scream, and said she'd tell her Ma;
And as these words fell from her lips a steamer came close by,
Which caused the boat to pitch and toss and her again to cry--

I felt uneasy in my mind, I scarce knew what to do,
I thought the girl would die with fright and so would all of you;
She said, "dear Joe, oh take me home, here I cannot remain,"
And then there came another wave which made her shout again--

Now thinking it would ease her mind, I pull'd towards the shore,
She told me I was very kind but would not go any more
On the water for a row, and now unto this day,
If you want to make her cross, of course you only have to say--

I've heard fiddlers sing a form of the chorus while playing the tune, but I can only recall the first half of the fourth line: Jump! Jump, you silly old c**t...

Malcolm^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Joe The Boat Is Going Over
From: Mrrzy
Date: 25 Jun 01 - 04:33 PM

(sorry, but just from the thread title I had the tune of Danny Boy - Oh joe the boat, the boat is going ooooover...)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Joe The Boat Is Going Over
From: IanC
Date: 26 Jun 01 - 04:45 AM

It's interesting but neither of these sets of words seems to fit the trad. polka that I play and which is similar to the WAV file above (The 2nd part's rather different).

We call it "Old Joe, The Boat's Going Over", by the way.

Cheers!"
Ian