Lyr. Add: CAN'T YOU DANCE A POLKA
Davis and Tozer, 1887, "Sailors' Songs
or "Chanties."

1.
Solo
Oh, once I loved a pretty girl
That I called Rosie mine,
Her cheeks were red, her hair did curl,
She was as straight as a line.
Chorus
And away Rosie,
My own Ro':...
Oh, my New York girls,
Can't you dance a polka?
2.
Solo
She lived down in a little street
Close by the old clock tower;
And ev'ry eve we used to meet
And wander by the hour.
Cho
3.
Solo
One night I went unto her house,
And knocked low at the door;
And heard my Rosie's little feet
A-tripping o'er the floor.
Cho
4.
Solo
She ope'd the door and whispered low
"I can't come out tonight,
My father's here, you'd better go,
Oh! dear, I'm in a fright."
Cho
5.
Solo
I said, "I'll not go off like this
So do not be afraid;
Just ope the door, give me a kiss,
Rosie, my pretty maid."
Cho
6.
Solo
"Oh leave me quick, be off my dear
If you care for my life;
The man whose footsteps you now hear
Calls me his wedded wife."
Cho
7.
Solo
And so I wandered quick away,
Before her husband came;
I thought unwise 'twould be to stay,
Not knowing Rosie's name.
Cho
8.
Solo
I wedded then a New York girl
As true to me as steel;
She puts my brain quite in a whorl
So happy I do feel.
Cho

No. 6, pp. 12-13, with score. The authors remark that this Chanty will be better and easier to play if transposed down a half note to key of D (two sharps).
Davis and Tozer, 1887, "Sailors' Songs or Chanties," Boosey & Co., Ltd. London. Taken from the 3rd, revised ed., 1906, with 50 chanties and songs, but also in the 1st ed. of 1887. Listed with anchor songs.

Versions in the DT are modern.
A number of chanteys show descent from popular songs, and this seems to be one of them.
Sometimes related to the 1843 minstrel song, "New York Gals," but only the name is similar.

The polka was introduced to Prague society in 1835; it became popular in Vienna in the 1840's and in the 1850's took both New York and London by storm. Band arrangements were popular during the Civil War.