The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #172604   Message #4179444
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
18-Aug-23 - 11:53 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back
Subject: RE: Origins: Valparaiso / Paddy Lay Back
I feel comfortable supposing that the article "On Shanties," in an August 1868 issue of _Once a Week_, refers to this song.

It reads,

//
There is an air of romance about California, the Brazils, and Mexico, that has a peculiar charm for Jack, and has made them the subject of many a favourite shanty, as _Rio Grande, Valparaiso, Round the Horn,_ and _Santa Anna._
//

I interpret that to be a list of *three* titles, the second of which is "Valparaiso, Round the Horn." (This is the same author who presumably meant ~"Oh Shenandoah" when they wrote "Oceanida." That is, title formatting is iffy.)

I have not done so, but would not be surprised if, with some tweaking of words and armchair searching, one could produce a candidate for a music hall-ish song borrowed by sailors. The searching would be improved with good knowledge of when jokey Irish-themed minstrel-ish comic songs, like "Paddy on the Railway," were first in vogue on the stage.