Lyr Req: Paddle Your Own Canoe (Harry Clifton)

Subject: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From:
Date: 05 Apr 97 - 08:06 PM

It would be very nice if somebody could help me with the lyrics for "Paddle me own canoe" I have a version with The Blarney Lads on CD and I've tried to write it down but it's so hard to understand. (I'm from Norway you see.) I think I have the chorus about right and it goes like this:

I have no wife to bother me life
No lover to prove untrue
The whole day long I laugh of this song
And paddle me own canoe

(Just in case this song could be known under another name.)

I'm really impressed by these archives and the organisation of the discussion forum.

Jan Ringen

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: Bert Hansell
Date: 07 Apr 97 - 10:21 AM

Just another piece of trivial folklore from my schooldays. When we first started learning French this was passed around and we'd get victims to try to translate it. Prompting them of course to read it aloud.

Pas d'elle yieux Rhone que nous.

That's enough of this nonsense.

Subject: Lyr Add: PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE
From: J. Hartley
Date: 07 Apr 97 - 06:45 PM

There is a song from Laura Wilder's By the Shores of Silver Lake that she reports her father used to sing. It was called Paddle Your Own Canoe and sung to the tune of Rosin the Bow.

I've traveled about a bit in my time
And of troubles I've seen a few
But found it better in every clime
To paddle my own canoe.

My wants are few. I care not at all
If my debts are paid when due.
I drive away strife in the ocean of life
While I paddle my own canoe.

The love your neighbor as yourself
As the world you go traveling through
And never sit down with a tear or a frown
But paddle your own canoe.

Weren't the Ingalls of Scandinavian stock? In any event the song has a nice message. Hope it is the one.

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: Jan Ringen
Date: 08 Apr 97 - 05:44 PM

To J. Hartley

Thank you for your answer. You got the right song. Do you have any more verses ? My version has a total of four...

Jan Ringen

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: J. Hartley
Date: 08 Apr 97 - 06:40 PM

Jan--Sorry. I copied it from the book. The Wilder homestead is in Marshall, Mo., and I think the gift shop has a songbook of songs she remembered her father playing and singing. I don't have the songbook or even the address. I only briefly looked at the songbook and decided I had most of the songs in other collection.

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 04:26 AM

I've traveled about, and around in my time
Of troubles I've seen few
But find it far better in every clime
To paddle my own canoe

My wants are small and care not all,
Once my debts are paid when due
I find it far better every time
To paddle my own canoe

Love your neighbor as yourself
As the world you paddle through
Never sit down with a tear or a frown
Just paddle your own canoe...

Information supplied by Patrick Webster... from Irish Song Books. Dublin [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: DMcG
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 06:40 AM

In the middle of one of the Chieftain's pieces they sing the single verse:

If I had a wife, the bane of my life
I tell you what I would do
I'd buy her a boat, and set it afloat
And paddle my own canoe.

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 11:14 AM

From time to time, people somehow manage to discover very old threads (nearly 7 years old in this case) where a very old question has been asked; they then triumphantly answer it, oblivious of the fact that it's subsequently been dealt with in some depth and detail. Typically, a new discussion then ensues in the revived thread in which all the same things are said again; often by people who haven't noticed the whiskers on it.

There are several later threads on this song, which was written by the Music Hall entertainer Harry Clifton, who often based songs on existing melodies. Quite a few pieces written by and/or for him are found in oral currency, and not infrequently turn up in "Irish" songbooks, usually with the author(s) uncredited. Beside the additional references shown above, there is further information in this discussion from a year ago:

Help: Harry Clifton Songwriter. Includes full text of Paddle Your own Canoe and others.

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: Cluin
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 12:19 PM

Well, my grandfather used to sing one he heard in the lumber camps and the only bit my Dad can remember was the line "Just strap the bastard to your back and paddle your own canoe!" That's all we know of THAT one.

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Dec 03 - 02:08 PM

Entering - paddle - in the Lyrics and knowledge search turns up a lot in the Forum (as well as a derived version in the DT). Of course, newcomers don't know the drill.

When related threads are added by Mudcat helpers at the top of a thread, key ones are missed because the thread title doesn't mention the song (such as the "Harry Clifton Songwriter" thread linked by Malcolm Douglas). There doesn't seem to be an easy way of locating these threads without going through the long lists of posts turned up in a Forum Search.   

Unfortunately, the original by Harry Clifton has never been promoted to the DT.

Subject: Lyr Add: PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Dec 03 - 11:19 PM

From the Library of Congress
America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets

PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE
H. De Marsan, Publisher, 60 Chatham Street, N. Y. [n. d.]

No. 1.

I've travell'd about a bit in my time,
And of troubles I've seen a few,
But found it better, in ev'ry clime,
To paddle my own canoe.
My wants are small, I care not at all
If my debts are paid when due;
I drive away strife, in the ocean of life,
While I paddle my own canoe.

CHORUS: Then love your neighbour as yourself,
As the world you go travelling through,
And never sit down, with a tear or a frown,
But paddle your own canoe.

I have no wife to bother my life,
No lover to prove untrue;
But the whole day long, with a laugh and a song.
I paddle my own canoe.
I rise with the lark, and, from daylight till dark,
I do what I have to do.
I'm careless of wealth, if I've only the health
To paddle my own canoe. CHORUS

It's all very well to depend on a friend,
That is: if you've prov'd him true;
But you'll find it better, by far in the end,
To paddle your own canoe.
To BORROW is dearer, by far, than to BUY:
A maxim, tho' old, still true;
You never will sigh, if you only will try
To paddle your own canoe. CHORUS

If a hurricane rise, in the mid-day skies,
And the Sun is lost to view,
Move steadily by, with a steadfast eye,
And paddle your own canoe.
The daisies that grow in the bright green fields,
Are blooming so sweet for you:
So, never sit down, with a tear or a frown,
But paddle your own canoe. CHORUS

No. 2.

Never give up, when trials come,
Never grow sad and blue;
Never sit down, with a tear and a frown,
But paddle your own canoe.

CHORUS: Paddle your own canoe,
Paddle your own canoe,
Never sit down, with a tear and a frown,
But paddle your own canoe.

There are daisies springing along the shore,
Sweet and blooming for you;
There are rose-hued dyes in the Autumn skies:
Then paddle your own canoe. CHORUS

Up this world, and down this world,
Over this world and through,
When drifted about and tossed without,
Why, paddle your own canoe. CHORUS

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Dec 03 - 12:33 AM

Full sheet music for "Paddle Your Own Canoe," by Harry Clifton, may be found in the Levy Collection, M. Hobson Publication by Hopwood, London. Mr. Clifton is shown on the cover. Another copy, printed in Philadelphia, as well as a broadsheet printed by Schmidt, are also provided. The copies are undated. PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE (1)
PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE (2)

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Dec 03 - 12:35 AM

Not clear- the link 'Paddle Clifton' on the last line takes you to the sheet music.

Subject: RE: Paddle me own canoe - Lyrics
From: GUEST,Jim Fitz
Date: 21 Nov 06 - 05:44 PM

A great tune and a lot of truth in - an Irish tune I would like to think

Subject: Tune Add: Paddle Your Own Canoe (Harry Clifton)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 12 Jun 10 - 07:39 AM

But it's not. The music was written by Charles Coote, jr., who said that the refrain was taken from his valse "The Queen of the harvest" (per a letter to the editor of the Era Magazine, 1899). For details, see the "Help: Harry Clifton songwriter" thread; information posted by Sminky. Coote wrote the music to many Clifton songs (not always credited), and later became managing director of Hopwood and Crew, Clifton's primary publisher.


Below is an ABC transcription of the original melody as given in the sheet music in the Lester S. Levy Collection. The lyrics seem to match those in the De Marsan broadside (No. 1) posted by Jim Dixon above, so I won't post them. Martin Hobson prepared most of the Clifton arrangements, and his credit in the American music implies that the original arrangement was used unchanged.

X:1
T:Paddle Your Own Canoe
C:Written by Harry Clifton; music by Charles Coote, jr.; arranged by Martin Hobson.
S:Sheet music published by W. R. Smith, Philadelphia.
N:From the Lester S. Levy collection.
Z:Artful Codger
%%MIDI program 1 69
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=72
K:G
D | B B d c2 {B}A | B B G E E F | G F G d2 B |
w: I've travell'd a-bout a bit in my time And of trou-bles I've seen a
A3-A2 D | B2 d c c A | B B G E2 G |
w: few_ But found it bet-ter in ev'-_ry clime To
D ^C D B2 A | G3-G2 G | A A A A ^G A |
w: pad-dle my own ca-noe._ My wants_ are small,_ I
d d d (d ^c) d | e e e ^c2 A | d3-d2 F |
w: care not at all if my debts_ are paid when due._ I
A A A A ^G A | d d d d ^c d | A B A (GF) E | (D3 Hd2) ||
w: drive a-way strife, in the o-cean of life While I pad-dle my own_ ca-noe._
%
%    Chorus.
"^Chorus." =c | B2 d c2 A | B2 G E E D |
w: Then love your neigh-bour as your-self, As the
G F G d d B | A3-A2 D | B B d c c A |
w: world you go tra-vel-ling through,_ And ne-ver sit down, with a
B B G E2 G | D ^C D HB2 A | G3-G2 z |]
w: tear or a frown, But pad-dle your own ca-noe._


See also the thread on "The Girl in the Calico Dress" (http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=19948#2649378); the lyrics were intended to be sung to this tune.

---

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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle Your Own Canoe (Harry Clifton)
From: GUEST,Bardan
Date: 12 Jun 10 - 11:16 AM

Dad always used to sing it to the dingle regatta tune.