BLOW, BOYS, BLOW
(Halliard Shanty)

A Yankee ship came down the river-
Blow, boys, blow!
Her masts and yards they shone like silver-
Blow, boys, bully boys, blow!

And who do you think was skipper of her?
Blow, boys, blow!
Why, Billy Hayes, him and no other!
Blow, boys, bully boys, blow!

And who do you think was chief mate of her?
Blow, boys, blow!
Why, Shanghai Brown, the sailor robber!
Blow, boys, bully boys, blow!

And what do you think they got for their dinner?
Blow, boys, blow!
Why, handspike hash, as I'm a sinner!
Blow, boys, bully boys, blow!

And what do you think they got for their suppers?
Blow, boys, blow!
Belaying pin soup and a roll in the scuppers-
Blow, boys, bully boys, blow!

Oh blow my boys and blow forever!
Blow, boys, blow!
And blow her home to the London River!
Blow, boys, bully boys, blow!

Notes by CFS:

This shanty is said to have referred originally to the slave trade, and some versions give a number of stanzas in which the Congo River is mentioned. Latterly, however, it has been taken as applying to the hard-driven, beautifully kept ships which hailed from Down East, with skippers and mates whose brutality was only equalled by their daring and skilful seamanship.

The names of the skipper and mate varied...Sometimes Captain Semmes of the "Alabama" figured as captain,... Generally, though, it was Bully Hayes who held command- that legendary, piratical super-blackbirder of the South Seas, the memory of whose exploits still lingers among the islands. Bully Hayes, ...[in] civil life, one of the mildest mannered men that ever slit a throat...

"Shanghai Brown" is, of course, the famous or infamous 'Frisco crimp who figures as Shanghai Smith in Mr. Morley Robert's nautical classic, "The Promotion of the Admiral."

This halliard shanty is also published in C. Fox Smith, 1927, A SEA CHEST, pp. 165-166, titled "A Yankee 'Blood Boat," without music.

There are two versions in the DT.

X:1
T:Blow Boys Blow
C:C. Fox Smith 'A book of Shanties' - p35
L:1/8
K:F
zF|A2A2A2F2|A3G G3F|G4A4|B6d2|
w:A Yan-kee ship came down the riv-er Blow, Boys, blow! Her
c2c2B2A2|F2C2F2G2|A2c2G G c|F4
w: masts and yard they shone like sil-ver blow boys blul-ly boys, blow!

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