A coonjine was the Negro laborer (roustabout) who loaded the steamboats on the rivers. His technique of humping bales and barrels on the gangplank and across decks and wharfs was called coonjining. The word also was applied to a dance step in the minstrel days.

American Memory, among its WPA life Histories, has a rare interview (1939) with an old Negro coonjine who had made it to New York and was found working at the docks on West Street. The interviewer, Garnett Laidlaw Eskew, also was unusual, in that he knew his subject, having been reared near the inland rivers.

The rouster wore the traditional covering of gunny sack fastened with nails across his neck and shoulders and the hat turned up in front.
He sang several songs and song fragments typical of the work and times on the Mississippi River system. In the mid-late 19th century there were over 2000 steamers (all painted white) on the river system, each with about 50 roustabouts on board, before the railroads became dominant. The roustabout carried everything from live pigs to cotton bales. Between loading and unloading, the men rested on deck, gambled and ate. For the Negro rouster, the pay was relatively good and food was plentiful.

Here are the songs, some of which belong with lyrics already posted,
but put together here to show something of the repertoire of a river roustabout.

Love her in the sunshine
Love her in the rain!
Treats her like a white gal,
She give my neck a pain!
De mo' I does for Sadie Lee
De less dat woman thinks er me.

Old roustabout ain't got no home,
Make his living on his shoulder bone!

Lizzie Bay
De ole Lizzie Bay she comin' roun' de ben'
All she's a doin' is killin' up men.
De ole Lizzie Bay she's a mighty fine boat
But hit take nine syphon ter keep her afloat.
(Lizzie Bay ran from Ragtown (Cincinnati) to Cairo; rags for paper shipped out on the boats, hence the name.

Who been hyuh sints I bin gone?
Big ole rouster wid a derby on,
Layin right dar in my bed
Wid his heels crack open like cracklin' bread.
A whoop my woman and I black her eye,
But I won't cut her throat kaze I skeered shemight die.

(The "well-nigh unprintable songs "Rango, Rango" and "Roll, Molly, Roll" are mentioned.

Whar wuz you las' night?
O tell me where you wuz last light?
Rattin' on de job
In Saint Chawles Hotel.
(ratting = loafing. The "Hotel" was a warm, cleared space beneath the steamboat boilers on the lower deck)

I chaws my terbacker and I spits my juice,
Gwinter love my gal til hit ain't no use.

Boozum bread, boozum bread,
I eats dat stuff till I damn near dead.
(Boozum bread is long slabs of ginger bread, "nigger belly," that was obtained in Vicksburg. Roustabouts carred it under his shirt bosom next to the skin. By ducking his chin he could bite out chunks of the stuff (softened by sweat) without interference with his work. The song had reference to a "one-armed, hard-fisted steamboat mate named Lew Brown.

Reason I like de Lee Line trade,
Sleep all night wid the chambermaid.
She gimmie some pie and she gimmie some cake,
An' I gi' her all de money dat I ever make.

Dey wuks you hawd but dey feeds you fine
On dem big boats er de Anchor Line.
(A Line with large boats boasting fine cuisine, "sumptious cabins and speed." See song thread on the W. S. Hays song, "Down in de Co'n Fiel.")

De City of Cairo's a mighty big gun,
But lemmee tell you whut de Monroe done;
She lef' Baton Rough at haff pass one
An' git ter Vicksburg at de settin' er de sun.
(Anchor Line)

Me and muh woman done had a fus...
Gwinter take a little trip on de Trusty Trus.!
I owes de lanlady fifty cents,
Gwinter roust on de Providence.
(Anchor Line)

Sal Teller leave St. Looey
Wid her lights tu'n down.
And you'll know by dat
She's Alabama bound.
(ship Saltillo called the Sal Teller).

Alabama bound!
She's Alabama bound!
You'll know by dat
She's Alabama bound!
Doan you leave me here!
Doan you leave me here!
Ef you's gwine away and ain' comin' back
Leave a dime for beer!
Leave a dime for beer
Leave a dime for beer!
Brother, if yu gwine away
Leave a dime for beer!

I ask de mate
Ter sell me some gin;
Says, I pay you mister
When de Stack comes in
When de Stack comes in
When de Stack comes in!
Says, I pay you mister
When de Stack comes in.
(The ship Stacker Lee of the lee Line)

Catfish swimmin' in de river
Nigger wid a hook and line.
Says de catfish, Lookyere, Nigger,
You ain' got me dis time.
....Come on, bale,- got yuh!
(cotton-loading song, New Orleans.

"Coonjine- moving in perfect time meant that the rousters' feet hit the stageplank with uniform precision. ...For if a rouster should step upon the vibrating boards out of time, and thus catch the rebound of the stage-plank, he was very likely to be catapulted with his load over into the muddy bourne from which no roustabout returns- or rarely so."
A general opinion prevails that nobody but the Negroes can sing Coonjine.
At the time this was written, some of the old coonjines were still alive, but had come north to live with the "chillun" in the cities.