Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)

Subject: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Jul 08 - 05:37 PM

This old minstrel song is interesting with its comparisons of different transportation options available to travelers in the early 19th century. No clue to what the tune might be but maybe someone else can tease one out of the archives:

As sung by Christy's celebrated Band of Minstrels; in CHRISTY'S PANORAMA SONGSTER, published by William H. Murphy, NYC, circa 1850, pp. 76.

Rail Road Trabbeler

Oh de steamboat,
Oh de steamboat,
Oh de steamboat makes a mighty splutter.
And when the biler bursts it lands in the water,

Chorus:

Rail Road trabbel's getting all de go,
'Kase the hoss boat and steam boat goes so mighty slow!

Oh de hoss boat,
Oh de hoss boat,
De hoss boat can trabble if the weddur wet or dry
And noffin can stop you if the old hoss die. (CHO)

Oh de mail coach,
Oh de mail coach,
Oh de mail coach is good to cure the gout,
It will rattle off your buttons, and turn you inside out. (CHO)

Oh de telimagraph,
Oh de telimagraph,
De telimagraph's good for to transport the lightnen,
Or to get the news from Mexico, when the Yankees is a fitin. (CHO)

Oh de bullgermirim,
Oh de bullgermirim,
De bullgine go so fast, dey trabbel out of sight,
And the only way you get to eat, is to stop and take a bite. (CHO)

Notes:

The Mexican War was between 1846 and 1848; The telegraph began to operate in 1840. I'm guessing that a "hoss boat" is a canal boat pulled by a horse although then the last line of the second verse makes no sense to me. The "bullgermirim" or "bullgine" would seem to be a steam locomotive; it is also a general slang term for any steam engine.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jul 08 - 08:32 AM

Goin' once!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 08:25 AM

Hi Charlie,
Still fascinated by this one
Jim Carroll

JIM JAWBONE
TUNE. "Yankee Doodle was a gentleman."

Jim Jawbone was a color'd man,
Ob de true negro blood, sa,
In old Virginny he did grow,
Among de 'bacca buds, sa.
His fader cum from Alabam,
His moder cum from Guinea,
Dey suckled little Jawbone wid
De leaf ob ole Virginny.

Chorus:
Success to de tobacco leaf,
An' to de Jawbone Grinny,
Sing may dey raise for our relief,
De plant ob ole Virginny.


Dey cradled in tobacco stalks,
Dis blooming infant black, sa;
An' long before he larnt to talk,
He squealed de name of "bacca."
Soon as young Jim fus' larnt to creep,
Dey missed an' thought him killed, sa,
But dey found him in de field asleep,
Upon a bacca hill, sa,

Chorus

As Jim growed up, de more he show
His vegetable breed, sa;
His 'plexion from the de sable crow,
Turned like de yallar weed, sa;
His limbs growed so jist like de plant,
When cutting time come round, sa,
He took 'em for tobacco stalks,
An' cut'mself clar down, sa.

Chorus

So poor Jim Jawbone had to die,
All by dis sad slipstake, sa,
He hung him up wid stalks to dry,
Upon de 'bacca brake, sa;
Dis pipe I cut out ob de bone,
Dat growed out ob his shin, sa,
An' de more I smoke de 'bacca out,
De more keeps coming in, sa,


From Christy's Panorama Songster, 1852

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Jul 08 - 09:09 AM

Jim-

Interesting song. And evidently there was more than one edition of Christy's Panorama Songster, for I don't find "Jim Jawbone" in mine.

Mine has no date but there is a note that it contains songs sung by The Christy, Campbell, Pierce's Minstrels, and Sable Brothers, published by William H. Murphy, 384 Pearl St., New York, price 12.5 cents!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Jul 08 - 08:50 AM

Goin' twice!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: pavane
Date: 17 Jul 08 - 09:02 AM

From the web:

The term bullgine was derisive shipboard slang for an engine. Sailors didn't like them ...
"So clear away the track and let the bullgine run!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Jul 08 - 08:00 PM

Pavane-

The term bullgine was derisive shipboard slang for an engine. Sailors didn't like them ...
"So clear away the track and let the bullgine run!"

I'm not convinced that "bullgine" is derisive slang; it is certainly slang.

And although most sailors were conservative when it came to adapting to new technology or to new practices, they were also pragmatic and if something like a small steam engine made their work of hauling up yards or sails or anchor easier I doubt if there would have been much objection. The "donkey engines" (another slang term for the same thing) became even more important as the size of the crew to manage a ship was cut down by ship owners toward the end of the 19th century.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jul 08 - 08:27 PM

Bullgine (bull engine) was in print in 1845. It was applied to steam engines, from small ones aboard ship, to locomotives. Lighter (Historical Dictionary of American Slang) provides quotations with dates. As Charley notes above, donkey engine covers some of the same type of engines. I don't know of derogatory remarks about them unless they 'bust.'
This was covered in another thread, not too long ago. Stone (Put's Songster) wrote a song about their use in the Gold Rush days (too lazy to look it up at the moment).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jul 08 - 09:03 PM

American Memory has a 19th c. song sheet titled "What a Heel She's Got Behind Her." It is not a memorable song, but the donkey engine or bullgine is mentioned-

Oh, when dat head first touched dis chest,
How it set dis heart a beating,
It made de wind walk through my breast,
Like a steam bullgine a beating.
----- and so on.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rail Road Trabbeler (Minstrel Song)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Jul 08 - 08:26 AM

Q-

Thanks again for providing more information about early steam technology and the slang terms to describe them.

And what an image for a wild beating heart!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble