But it's not. The music was written by Charles Coote, jr., who said that the refrain was taken from his valse "The Queen of the harvest" (per a letter to the editor of the Era Magazine, 1899). For details, see the "Help: Harry Clifton songwriter" thread; information posted by Sminky. Coote wrote the music to many Clifton songs (not always credited), and later became managing director of Hopwood and Crew, Clifton's primary publisher.
Below is an ABC transcription of the original melody as given in the sheet music in the Lester S. Levy Collection. The lyrics seem to match those in the De Marsan broadside (No. 1) posted by Jim Dixon above, so I won't post them. Martin Hobson prepared most of the Clifton arrangements, and his credit in the American music implies that the original arrangement was used unchanged.
X:1
T:Paddle Your Own Canoe
C:Written by Harry Clifton; music by Charles Coote, jr.; arranged by Martin Hobson.
S:Sheet music published by W. R. Smith, Philadelphia.
N:From the Lester S. Levy collection.
Z:Artful Codger
%%MIDI program 1 69
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=72
K:G
D | B B d c2 {B}A | B B G E E F | G F G d2 B |
w: I've travell'd a-bout a bit in my time And of trou-bles I've seen a
A3-A2 D | B2 d c c A | B B G E2 G |
w: few_ But found it bet-ter in ev'-_ry clime To
D ^C D B2 A | G3-G2 G | A A A A ^G A |
w: pad-dle my own ca-noe._ My wants_ are small,_ I
d d d (d ^c) d | e e e ^c2 A | d3-d2 F |
w: care not at all if my debts_ are paid when due._ I
A A A A ^G A | d d d d ^c d | A B A (GF) E | (D3 Hd2) ||
w: drive a-way strife, in the o-cean of life While I pad-dle my own_ ca-noe._
%
% Chorus.
"^Chorus." =c | B2 d c2 A | B2 G E E D |
w: Then love your neigh-bour as your-self, As the
G F G d d B | A3-A2 D | B B d c c A |
w: world you go tra-vel-ling through,_ And ne-ver sit down, with a
B B G E2 G | D ^C D HB2 A | G3-G2 z |]
w: tear or a frown, But pad-dle your own ca-noe._
See also the thread on "The Girl in the Calico Dress" (http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=19948#2649378); the lyrics were intended to be sung to this tune.
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