POOR PADDY
(Pumping or Capstan Shanty)

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-one
I did as plenty more have done
My corduroy breeches I put on
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-two
I joined up with an Irish crew,
I got a job of work to do
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-three
I sailed away across the sea,
I sailed to North Amerikee
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-four
I landed on Columbia's shore,
I had a pickaxe, nothing more,
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-five
When Daniel O'Connell was alive,
I thought it time no more to strive
To work upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

In eighteen-hundred-and-sixty-six
I said good-bye to spades and picks,
I chucked my job and carried bricks
But not upon the railway…the ra-ailway…
I'm weary of the ra-ailway,
Oh poor Paddy he works on the railway!

Notes by CFS, p. 56:

This is no doubt an example of a shore song converted into a shanty, and for that reason some of the purists exclude it from their pages. But since – as I have suggested elsewhere – the likelihood is that nearly every shanty under the sun, if the truth were known, comes under the same category, and since, moreover, "Poor Paddy" has certainly been long forgotten except as a shanty, and has been for years a universal favourite afloat, I take leave to accord a place here to his Odyssey.

Captain W. H. Angel calls it a hoisting shanty: but every other writer I have consulted classes it with the capstan songs, and its form seems to indicate that it was so used as a general rule.
X:1
T:Poor Paddy
C:C. Fox Smith 'A book of Shanties' p 57
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:F
z6(c B)|A2A A G F|G2G c2c|F2F B2A|
w:In_ Eight-een hun-dred and six-ty one I did as plen-ty
G2G C2c|A3/2 A/2 A (A G) F|G2G c2B|
w:more have done My cord-u-roy breech_-es I put on to
A2F G2E|F3F2F|(E2D) C2C|E2F G2A|
w:work up-on the rail-way the rail_-way I'm wea-ry of the
B2d c3|c2B A/2 G/2 G2|F3G2E|F3F
w:ra-ail-way Oh poor pad-dy he works on the rail-way

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