Lyr. Add: PANAMA MAN

Oh de Pa(E)nama man 'ent got (A)no money,
Still de (B)Panama man want 5(E)love
When de (E)Panama man come (A)back from sea,
An' de (B7)Panama 9(E)Canal.
Chorus:
But 'e (A)cahn get me
Widout (B7)de money
To (A) buy me a taffeta 14(F#m)dress!(B7)
If de (E)Panama man gwine (A)court wid me
He gwine 18(B) treat me like a (E)queen.
If de Panama man gwine court wid me
He gwine treat me like a queen.
2
Look de Panama man come home from sea,
As skinny as a Church rat,
An' all he had in his grip fo' me
Was a wide-brim Panama hat.
3
When de Curaç`ao man come back to Bim,
He bring me a calico dress,
When de Panama man come back to Bim,
All he bring is the Spanish caress!

"Between 1850 and 1914 several thousand Barbadian men" labored on the Panama Canal.
Marshall, McGeary and Thompson, 1981 and reprints, Folk Songs of Barbados. Ian Randle Publishers. Also in Colon Man a' come. Mythographies of Panama Canal Migration, 2005, Rhonda D. Frederick, Lexington Books.