Wow..even though that wasn't the specific song you were looking for, it brought back some memories for me! I'd advise anyone singing the quoted version to pronounce the word "shine" as "Chine" because that is exactly how the annoying shoe-shine guy who worked the Ferries used to say it. That same guy hollering "Chine.. Chine... Choo Chine!" right in your face was there when I was a kid in the 70's and still there when I moved to Staten Island after Grad School in '86 and still there when I went back to visit in the late 80's.

His routine call was so grating that many of us took to making sure we only rode on the ferries we were sure he wouldn't be on! He was a creature of habit and usually stuck to the 8:15 leaving St. George which most of us Wall Streeters favored. We'd sometimes get there early to miss him by taking the 8:00 Am or..risk being late a few minutes by taking the 8:30. What used to irk us the most was that he'd never shut up until he found a paying customer and he'd get right in people's faces sometimes causing them to agree to a shine just to preserve the peace. I'm sure he wasn't a bad guy or anything but those of us that braved the wind to ride outside were looking for some peace and quiet and not "CHINE! CHINE!" Yikes. I still cring at the memory.

I wonder how many songs there are about the Staten Island Ferry or if anybody ever bothered to pen one about the Massacre in 1986 by the sword wielding madman. By pure chance, I avoided that nasty scene when my companion and I just barely made the Ferry which preceeded it. That was July 4th 1986 for those who don't recall. Some guy cut a swath through tourists who were taking the ferry to appreciate the sights of the Tall Boats Festival to celebrate the City's Tricential.    All I recall about that was that the massacre happened on one of the "new" Ferries with the fully enclosed porches...which is why I missed it. We ran for the earlier boat so we could hang over the rail of the "old" boats whose proches were not cased in by plexiglass. Also, the "Old" boats took cars while the new boats used that room for an additional passenger deck. Good decision it turns out!