A song about a boat builder's rentals in the very early days of pioneer Vancouver, then known as Gastown, in the early 1880s, before the railroad arrived. At that time the port village was clustered around a small beach front with a sawmill and providing the loggers and sailors visiting town with housing, taverns, gambling, etc. In that context, renting a skiff (rowboat or canoe) was a genteel pursuit.

Trevor Williams and Rick Pollay (2021)
Based on “an old local song” in a 1936 Vancouver Sun newspaper

Not too fast – steady rowing rhythm, not dancing

1. If you’ve got a sweetheart and you know your love is true
You really want to wed her and you think that she loves you
You want to pop the question but you don’t know what to do
Well here is my advice: Get out on the blue.
        Take her down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
                Down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
        Just go Down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
                And go out for a row

2. If your mother-in-law is vexing you and your home is all upset
She rules the roost both night and day, and you’re in an awful fret,
Don’t think your case is hopeless, for you may just win out yet,
Take her for a water ride that she won’t soon forget.
        Take her down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
                Down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
        Just go down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
                And go out for a row

3. If headed back to work camp and you think you might be late
‘Cause you ran into some sailors new with stories to relate
You missed the scheduled Union boat, confused about the date
Take my advice and grab a skiff to get across the strait.
        Go down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
                Down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
        Just go down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse            
                And row, you bully boy, row

4. The Harbour Master of the port your fishing card examines
Without a ticket to catch fish your kitchen stores would sadden
But with all your friends in Gastown, you’ll never know real famine
‘Cause if you can ‘t fish for yourself, there’s always Salish salmon
        Go down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
                Down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse
        Just go down to Andy Linton’s Boathouse        
                And go out for a row

5. Once Gastown had a City Wharf, but that went down the drain
The railway claimed and filled the beach - laid rails for the train
The old street-end locations are now behind fence and chain   
Where once we went a-rowing, only memories remain
        Of Andy Linton’s Boathouse
                handy Andy Linton’s Boathouse
        Good old Andy Linton’s Boathouse        
                Where we went out for a row
                But that was long, long ago (tag with retard).

Source of verses 1 and 2, before slight revisions: “The Bookshelf: Correspondence to W. H. Kelly,” Vancouver Sun, September 12, 1936, p38. Another verse was mentioned, but not provided, about Dear Miss Bowes, perhaps a Salvation Army reformer, taking gambling dens and other evils to Andy Linton’s “to wash the city clean.”