Lyr Req: Paddle Your Own Canoe (Harry Clifton)

Subject: Paddle your own canoe
From: GUEST,Taunus Bop
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 06:44 PM

Anyone can supply me the lyrics of "Paddle your own canoe", a song that I heard in Spirit of a nation, of the Wolfe Tones? Any help will be appreciated cheers TB

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: Snuffy
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 07:09 PM

I have a tape by (I think) the Chieftains, where they do it as a slide (12/8 time), but the only words they sing are:

If I had a wife
The curse of my life
I'll tell you what I would do
I'd buy her a boat
And set her afloat
And paddle my own canoe

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: Hotspur
Date: 21 Mar 00 - 08:08 PM

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.

Then 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!

These are the words as Laura Ingalls Wilder remembered them, in "By The Shores of Silver Lake."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 22 Mar 00 - 11:36 AM

Don't know the song - but my mum often uses the saying. Not alway getting it right though. She has been known to refuse offers of help because 'I'd rather cuddle my own pooh to be honest'. Geniune spoonerism the like of which she delivers many.

Kris

Subject: Lyr Add: PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE
From: GUEST,Irish Brigade
Date: 24 Mar 00 - 03:28 PM

PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE

I've travelled about a bit in me time.
Of troubles I've seen a few.
I found it far better in every clime
To paddle me own canoe.

Me wants they are small. I care not at all.
Me debts they are paid when due.
I drive away strife from the ocean of life,
And paddle me own canoe.

And I have no wife to bother me life,
No lover to prove untrue.
The whole day long I laugh with the song
And paddle me own canoe.

So love everybody, trust only the few,
As the world I go travelling through,
And never sit down with a tear and a frown,
But paddle your own canoe.

I rise with the lark from daylight to dark.
I do what I have to do.
I'm careless in wealth. I've only me health
To paddle me own canoe.

And I have no wife to bother me life,
No lover to prove untrue.
The whole day long I laugh with the song,
And paddle me own canoe.

It's all very well to depend on a friend,
That is if you proved him true.
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 saying though old still true.
You never will sigh if you only will try
To paddle your own canoe.

Though England has ruled our small little land,
And many's the country too,
Just take my advice and never think twice
To paddle your own canoe.

It's better I say to make your own way,
As the world you go travelling through.
You never will sigh if you only will try
To paddle your own canoe.

Subject: Lyr Add: PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE (Harry Clifton)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 06 Jul 06 - 11:09 PM

From The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE
Harry Clifton [no date]

1. I've travelled 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 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.

2. 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.

3. It's all very well to depend on a friend,
That is, if you've proved 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, though old, still true.
You never will sigh if you only will try
To paddle your own canoe.

4. If a hurricane rise in the midday 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.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 11:09 AM

I've heard it this way:




Never give up when trials come
Never go sad or blue
Never sit down with a tear or frown
But paddle your own canoe

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 07:33 PM

1866, Jim. Clifton wrote, among many other songs now called folk songs, the words, but the tune was 'Queen of the Harvest Waltz by Chas. Coote Jr. Twas he who popularised 'Rocky Road to Dublin', 'Lannigan's Ball' Must have heard at least 20 of his songs sung in folk clubs and lots of them appear in folk song anthologies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: Joe_F
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 08:20 PM

I have heard tell of a French proverb, "Pas de leur Rhone que nous".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: Azizi
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 08:39 PM

One of the autograph book sayings that my mother shared with me from her high school years in the early 1940s {Southern New Jersey} was:

Love many,
Trust few,
And always paddle
your own canoe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: Azizi
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 08:42 PM

Actually that saying was

Love many
Trust few
But always paddle
your own canoe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 10:55 PM

The saying is more-or-less proverbial. Clifton didn't necessarily coin the phrase, but he did write the song: he always had an ear for a good catchline (another of his songs was called 'Where There's a Will There's a Way') and a good tune, many of which he picked up and used with great success. One of the most successful songwriters and performers of his day in both Britain and America, it's hardly surprising that many of his songs became part of popular currency.

This thread, revived after a sleep of some years, is one of the least informative ones we have here on this particular song; it's usually that sort that people who wander in via a search engine pick. Of the list of links above, neither the DT entry (the verses from Laura Ingalls Wilder, which somebody always quotes when the topic comes up) nor the ancient (1998) discussion Paddle me [sic] own canoe credit Clifton; but see also thread Harry Clifton Songwriter (2002) which also quotes a text and contains a lot of useful information.

American broadside and songsheet examples have already been quoted; see also  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads for examples printed in England, Ireland and the USA, with a couple of parodies and a couple written for the same tune:

Paddle Your Own Canoe

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: Bert
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 12:05 AM

Pas d'elle yieux Rhône que nous.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Jan 09 - 02:05 PM

Apropos of nothing, here's a song I wrote last year and posted here about the Hartlepool fellow who paddled his own canoe

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Paddle your own canoe
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 02:17 PM

Azizi, any idea where that phrase came from? Some years back I read something very similar as graffiti in the gents in the Cafe Iguana in Reading (in England) that stuck in my mind:

"Love many, trust few
Learn to paddle your own canoe"