Lyr. Add: RIO GRANDE

"Oh, where are you going to, my pretty maid?"
Away, oh, Rio!
"Oh, I'm going a milking, sir," she said,
For we're bound for the Rio Grande.
Oh, away, oh, Rio!
Away, oh, Rio!
So fare you well, my bonny young girl,
For we're bound for the Rio Grande.

"Oh, may I go with you my sweet pretty maid?"
"I'm sure you're quite welcome, sir," she said.

Oh man the good capstan and run it around.
We'll heave in the sugar and then, homeward bound.

We'll sing to the maidens. Come sing as we heave;
You know at this parting how sadly we grieve.

Sing good-bye to Sally and good-bye to Sue,
And you who are listening, good-bye to you.

So heave up the sugar until it is high.
"Let go! Stand from under!" the mate he does cry.

Oh, heave with a will and heave steady and strong.
We'll sing a good chorus for 'tis a good song.

The ship she went sailing out over the bar;
They pointed her nose for the old Southern Star.

So good-bye, young ladies, we'll sing you no more.
But we'll drink to your health when we all go ashore.

Chantey "using words of the old Mother Goose melody and branching off to words of the windlass chantey..."

With musical score.
Frederick Pease Harlow, 1928, The Making of a Sailor, Dover reprint of Publication Number 17 of the Marine Researck Society, Salem, MA.