Lyr Add: Steamboat Comin' (Alice Winship)

Subject: Lyr Add: Steamboat Comin' (Alice Winship)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jun 20 - 10:56 PM

Steamboat Comin'
Alice Winship high school graduation photo
Alice Winship, high school graduation photo
By Alice Winship

Chorus: Steamboat comin' on the Illinois River
            My dad plays in the band
            Hot dark nights make the tall corn quiver
            Calliope calling cross the bottom land


That calliope I hear
You know the boat is near
You can hear it two towns away
One night up in Hennepin
You can hear it down in Henry on the very next day

Chorus

When the weather is right
The corn will grow all night
You can hear it rustle down the row
But when you hear that calliope call again
Leave the corn and cows and go dancing with your beau

Chorus

Near the river there's our farm
With cornfields and a barn
Since eighteen sixty-eight
But when the band gets word to play again
My dad will pack his drums, make the music resonate

Chorus

The band knows all the songs
Keeps the dancing going on
With popular tunes of the day
When the steamboat sails the dance begins
He strums his mandolin and the music starts to play

Chorus

He will take me down to see
I'll listen happily
Till I begin to yawn
He'll find me a soft spot to sleep and then
I'll be safe on the steamboat while the band plays on

Chorus

The corn will grow a lot
When Illinois is hot
All night and through the day
Out on the river it's cool and then
On a "Moonlight Excursion" you dance the night away


http://maritimefolknet.org/cds-from-maritime-folknet/the-songs-of-alice-winship-cd/steamboat-comin/