Origins: Viva Panama

Subject: ADD Version: Viva Panama
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Feb 26 - 04:29 PM

VIVA PANAMA
Words by Margaret Marks, music collected by Agnes Dixon

I came into town to sell my pig
The morning after Christmas
They gave me a spade and said to dig
A ditch across the Isthmus.

CHORUS
Qué viva - ¡viva Panama!
Qué viva - ¡viva Panama!
Qué viva viva viva viva - Panama!
Qué viva - ¡viva Panama!

I dug and I dug, the dirt just flew
The digging was terrific!
I dug a canal that joined the blue
Atlantic and Pacific.

CHORUS

And now in the shade beneath a tree,
I watch each ocean liner
Go through the canal from sea to sea
From sunny Spain to China.
CHORUS


Source: Music in our Country, Silver Burdett fifth grade songbook, 1956, pp. 150-151.

email me if you need a scan of the music notation. [e-mail]

This melody sounds about right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1fV5_JybUY

Subject: ADD: Viva Panama
From: GUEST,Justin Vogel
Date: 03 Feb 26 - 08:52 AM

I was wondering whether anyone might have any information about an old, humorous little song about the Panama Canal. My father, who was born and raised in Miami, FL, frequently sang it to my siblings and I when we were children, and claims he learned it in elementary school (this would have been in the late 1950s/early 1960s). I sing it with my children now, and they enjoy it. I've never been able to find any information about the song until recently, when I found a post on a discussion board with some of the lyrics, saying that it was heard as part of a BBC radio program called "Singing Together" (which I had never heard of). Further searching led me to this site, and a post stating that the song was included as part of the program in 1990, 1993, and 1996 (https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=154766)

The lyrics, as I know them, are as follows:

VIVA PANAMA

I went to town to sell my pig
the morning after Christmas
They gave me a pick and told me to dig
a ditch across the isthmus.

(Chorus)
Qué viva - ¡viva Panama!
Qué viva - ¡viva Panama!
Qué viva viva viva via - Panama!
Qué viva - ¡viva Panama!

We dug and we dug, the dirt just flew
The digging was terrific
We dug a canal to join the blue
Atlantic and Pacific

(Chorus)

Now I sit beneath the trees
and watch the ocean liners
Float through the canal from sea to sea
from sunny Spain to Chiners

(Chorus)

I would love to know where the song came from, and check whether the lyrics and melody that father has passed down to us are correct (he isn't musically inclined, and I'm pretty sure this is the only song he has memorized!). Any information would be most appreciated!