The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #126347   Message #2872112
Posted By: Lighter
25-Mar-10 - 10:16 PM
Thread Name: From SF to Sydney - 1853 Shanties Sung?
Subject: RE: From SF to Sydney - 1853 Shanties Sung?
Another good early text from the Riverside Magazine for Young People (April, 1868). Lloyd sang his personal version in "Moby Dick":

        As I walked out one mornin',
                Down by the Clarence Dock,--
        Chorus. Heave away, my Johnny, heave away!
        'Twas there I met an Irish girl,
                Conversin' with Tapscott.
        Full chorus. An' away, my Johnny boy, we're all bound to go!

        "Good mornin' to yer, Taspcott;
                Good mornin', sir," she said….
        An' Tapscott he was that perlite
                He smiled an' bowed his head….

        "Oh, have yer got a ship," she said,--
                "A sailin' ship," said she,--
        "To carry me, and Dadda here,
                Across the ragin' sea?"

        "Oh yes, I got a packet ship,
                Her name's the Henry Clay,"--
        "She's layin' down to the Waterloo Dock,
                Bound to Amerikay."

        Then I took out my han'kerchief
                An' wiped away a tear,--
        And the lass was that she said to me, [sic]
                So, fare ye well, my dear!

        Some times I'm bound to Africay
                Some times I'm bound to France,--
        But now I'm bound to Liverpool
                To give them girls a chance."