In 1929 James Madison Carpenter recorded the British shantyman J. S. Scott singing a brief but unusual version of the well-known "Can't You Dance the Polka?"   Scott's performance is available on a CD-R from Folktrax.

Scott first went to sea in 1863 aboard the "Maitland" brigantine belonging to Nova scotia. His last ship was the "Clara Graham" of Glasgow, forty years later.

Scott must have been over 80 when he recorded this and several other shanties for Carpenter, some of them, like this one, in unusual versions. Not only are the recordings of poor quality; Scott's diction is frequently uncertain. This makes transcribing his lyrics quite difficult. I've done my best with the following, with the questionable parts in brackets.

            My father he wears a medal,
            My mother she's adored;
            My sister plays the piana,
            [Am I their own at a-haw-haw-ll?]

             Refrain: Oh, you sawntee!
                      My dear honey!
                      Oh! you New York gir-ruls!
                      Can't you dance the polka?
                      The polka! The polka!
                      Can't you dance the polka?
                      Oh! you New York gir-ruls!
                      Can't you dance the polka?               

             The big girl's from [Dezouha],
             The other girl's from the South;
             They curled their hair so very tight
             That they could not shut their mouth!

             (Refrain)

                              "Haul her in!! Haul that [babe] in!!"

The last line of verse 1 is extremely hard to make out. I think I've accounted sensibly for all the vowels, but some of the consonants remain doubtful. Furthermore, Scott begins the line with the word "And" (or possibly "Ain't); I've been unable to make any real sense out of the line with "and or "ain't," and I suspect the word uttered was simply a slip of the tongue.

'Catter Snuffy suggested "adored" in line 2, which is tough to make out -- as is the entire verse but for line 3. To give some idea of how dubious some transcriptions can be, did I not know better, I would have preferred to interpret line 1 as "My father he was a Beatle." ("Was a beadle" is a legitimate possibility that some may prefer.)

Snuffy thinks the place name in verse 2 is "Soho," though in this case Scott would have to be singing "THE Soho," which I also reject, but it too remains a viable possibility. Perhaps Scott himself misheard the original line.

According to the James Madison Carpenter Collection website (which supplied the meager information on J. S. Scott) Carpenter in one place regarded the song as a shanty, in another a forebitter. Scott apparently also sang a 4-stanza version beginning "I went down the other night" [cf. the opening of "Old Dan Tucker."] We'll have to wait for the publication of Carpenter's complete notes to see that one.

Variants of stanza 2 above how up in American minstrel-like songs such as "Get Along Home, Cindy!"

Someone might wish to search the Levy collection for a published American minstrel song that could shed light on Scott's text.

Finally, I have been unable to track down the source of this intriguing chorus, which I found on a polka-dancing site where it was hesitantly atttributed to George Grossmith, an English popular composer, about 1887:

          Oh, won't you dance the polka?
          Oh, can't you dance the polka?
          The joys of earth are little worth,
          Unless you can dance the polka.