The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #8686 Message #2059176
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
23-May-07 - 02:12 PM
Thread Name: What does blow the man down mean?
Subject: RE: What does blow the man down mean?
Lyr. Add: BLACKBALL LINE
In the Blackball Line I served my time,
Hurrah for the Blackball Line!
In the Black Ball Line I served my time,
Hurrah for the Blackball Line!
The Blackball ships are good and true,
Hurrah for the Blackball Line!
They are the ships for me and you,
Hurrah for the Blackball Line!
For once there was a Blackball ship,
Hurrah for the Blackball Line!
That fourteen knots an hour could clip,
Hurrah for the Blackball Line!
A boasting song. How much of the verse about strikers, etc., was the invention of boasting blackballers about their tightly run ships?
P. A. Hutchison, Mar. 1906, Jour. American Folklore, vol. 19, no. 72, pp. 16-28. Coll. late 19th c.