> 1. As I walked out in yonder dell,
A-hie-a-marukee-mirandy-o,
I met a fair damsel, her name it was Nell,
Rollickum-bollickum-dandy-o.

Regardless of how much of the song may have been faked, the refrains are authentic.

They belong to a bawdy song collected by Edith Fowke in Ontario that begins (IIRC), "As I was walking down the street,.../A couple of whores I chanced to meet...."

Hugill gives a cleaned up version as a shanty to the tune of "Camptown Races," with "hoodah" choruses.

But shanty singers will also recognize "Rollickum-bollickum-dandy-o" as a variant of a very different shanty, Hugill's "Ballockin' Randy Dandy!" (which he euphemized print as "Rollicking...," and which Colcord gives as "Galloping...").



All in all, an interesting distribution.