Back in the late fifties/early sixties Lonnie Donegan sang a version which went something like this.

But the song is a lot older than that. My dad used to sing it to us when I was a Kid.


'Round the bend I hear the chuggin' of the steamboat dear,
Heading here for this pier,
You’ll catch it if you hurry don't you ever fear,
It’s that Old Dominion line.
We'll she seems real pretty as she hugs the shore,
Heading for Baltimore.
Everybody's yearning
To hear the paddles churnin'
She's the Queen of the Chesapeake Bay.

Come on Miss Nancy put your best dress on
Come on Miss Nancy 'fore that steamboat's gone.
The banjos are strumming the same old tune
Up on the deck there's a place to spoon
Settle down close 'neath the silvery moon
Sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.

Come on Captain we must catch that boat,
We can't swim and listen we can't float
The banjos are strumming the same old tune
Up on the deck there's a place to spoon
Settle down close 'neath the silvery moon
Sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.