We're rolling down to New Orleans,
Rolling down to New Orleans,
We'll be fighting up and down
When we turn the ship around,
We're rolling down to New Orleans.

"A custom of the New Orleans traders, long established by tradition, was the following. Just after a ship had left the watefront and was heading down the river under tow, a battle would break out between the crowd before the mast and the afterguard, a battle to test which side was the superior." (Sailortown - Stan Hugill.)