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30 Jan 05 - 07:32 AM (#1393080) Subject: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: GUEST This is a comic song that I last heard in the 1970's. The chorus goes something like - This is the story of Win Chan Lu, Who sailed on the Yangtze River-I-iver-I-itchicom-itchicom- Yah-yah-yah. Sailorman no likee me. |
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30 Jan 05 - 07:41 AM (#1393089) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Leadfingers Its in the Digitrad as 'Chinee BumboatMan' Brouse C or look in search ! Its a good song and always was ! |
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30 Jan 05 - 08:27 AM (#1393124) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: My guru always said GUEST: I'm not sure if you know where all the Digitrad lyrics are held, but if you click here you will find the words. There is a fantastic database of lyrics here, have a look around. They're filed in the database rather than on the discussion threads in an effort to conserve the space on the Mudcat servers which is why it's usually better to use the 'search' facilities before using the forum to find them. However, the database is by no means complete so do ask again if you can't find something. Enjoy your browsing & the song :-) |
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30 Jan 05 - 09:28 AM (#1393166) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Snuffy Hugill includes it in his Shanties of the Seven Seas. He says it was usually a forebitter, but "often used as a shanty when pumping ship. I have sung it myself in such capacity" |
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30 Jan 05 - 03:17 PM (#1393489) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Lighter There is evidence to show that this once-popular but rarely printed comic song was the work of Petty Officer George Willis, USN, assigned to the Asiatic Fleet in the 1870s. Willis, a Civil War veteran, is also credited with having written the lyrics of the well-known "Cumberland's Crew" in Pensacola shortly after reading of the fight between CSS "Virginia [formerly USS "Merrimack]" and the sloop-of-war USS "Cumberland" Willis was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1873 for "gallant and meritorious conduct...off the coast of Greenland" while serving aboard USS "Tigress." You heard it here first. |
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30 Jan 05 - 04:11 PM (#1393550) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze Ri From: JWB One of the things I like about "The Chinee Bumboatman" is that it describes the mother of all food fights. For example, "The red-hot dumplings flew like lead...". Gives one a whole new perspective on dim sum. Jerry |
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30 Jan 05 - 06:32 PM (#1393678) Subject: DT Correction: The Chinee Bumboatman From: Joe Offer The version in the Digital Tradition is from Stan Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas. The DT has a few typographical errors, so I'll post corrected lyrics: THE CHINEE BUMBOATMAN I'll sing ye a story o' trouble an' woe, That'll cause ye to shudder and shiver, Concernin' a Chinese bumboat man that sailed the Yangtze River. He wuz a heathen o' high degree, as the joss-house records show, His family name was Wing Chang Loo, But the sailors all called him Jim Crow-ee-eye-oh-ee-eye! CHORUS: Hitchee-kum, kitchee-kum, yah! yah! yah! Sailormen no likee me, No savvy the story of Wing Chang Loo Too much of the bober-eye-ee, Kye-eye Now Wing Chang Loo he fell in love, with a gal called Ah Chu Fong, She `ad two eyes like pumpkin seeds, an' slippers two inches long, But Ah Chu Fong loved a pirate bold with all her heart an' liver, He wuz the capitan of a double-decked junk, An' he sailed the Yangtze river-eye-iver-eye! CHORUS When Wing Chang Loo he heard o' this, he swore an' `orrible oath: If Ah Chu marries that pirate bold, I `ll make sausage meat o' them both! So he hoisted his blood-red battle flag, put into the Yangtze River, He steered her east an' south an' west, Till that pirate he did diskiver-eye-iver-eye! CHORUS The drums they beat to quarters an' the cannons did loudly roar, The red `ot dumplin`s flew like lead, an' the scuppers they ran with gore. The pirate paced the quarterdeck with never a shake nor a shiver, He wuz shot in the stern wid' a hard-boiled egg, That penetrated his liver-eye-iver-eye! CHORUS The dyin' pirate feebly cried, "We'll give the foe more shot, If I can't marry Ah Chu Fong, then Wing Chang Loo shall not!" When a pease-pudden `ot hit the bumboat's side, it caused a `orrible scene, It upset a pot of `ot bow-wow soup, An' exploded the magazye-eenee-aye-eenee! Shanties from the Seven Seas @sailor @China filename[ CHINBUM TUNE FILE: CHINBUM CLICK TO PLAY JY The tune in the Digital Tradition is exactly the same as what's in Hugill. |
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30 Jan 05 - 07:16 PM (#1393713) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Shanghaiceltic Bit of background info for anyone who is interested. In mainland China the Yangtze (also spelled Yangtse) is called the Chang Jiang which means Long River. The name Yangtze is taken from Cantonese, now known as Guangdonghua (Guangdong dialect). The name still emans the Long River however. Chang Jiang is Mandarin (now referred to in China as Putonghua, common speach). The reason that Cantonese would have been used was the reliance in the early days of opening up China to the west on translators from the Hong Kong and Macau area whose mother tongue would have been Cantonese not Mandarin. The reference to dumplings might not be to dim sum, which are small dumplings steamed in bamboo wicker baskets but to the larger ones called mantou, these are much bigger and could be plain or filled with either meat or a mix of chopped veggies. Hard boiled eggs could be a reference to what are sometimes called Tea Eggs. Chicken eggs boiled in a mix of black tea, soy and water. This blackens the shell and darkens the egg white and yolk. Quite tasty and bloody hot when you first get them in your hands. Ditto the dumplings. Pumpkin seeds are still a favourite snack here, they are roasted and ypu often see people with a bag of them cracking them between their teeth to husk them. Girls with Pumpkin seed like eyes were considered beauties, Ditto the reference to bound feet. This was no ordinary girl but one of class who was expected not to work. Footbinding made normal work impossible, and it was supposed to to enhance the beauty of a girl and make her more marriageable. Bumboats was a general Naval reference to small boats that would come alongside ships at anchor to sell veggies, fruit, any anything else a sailor needed. Often the goods were of the female kind a sort of miniature floating brothel. Whatever, Goerge Willis certainly knew China, he was probably part of the Yangtze Squadron which was an early example of joint naval operations against the Chinese who were rather more than upset about the opium being imported by all the foreign nations in that period. This led to the two Opium Wars. Piracy was also rife up and down the coast of China. Though there was an established Imperial government in Beijing (Peking) it could not control the warlords in the country side. Many of these warlords also had their own fleets which were better armed than the Chinese navy of the time. |
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30 Jan 05 - 07:39 PM (#1393736) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Snuffy Too much of the bober-eye-ee, Kye-eye? What's the bober? I've always understodd it as Too much of a bother-eye-ee, Kye-eye (i.e. not worth bothering about). And do you really feel comfortable nowadays singing such racial stereotypes? Or does yellow not count, only black? |
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30 Jan 05 - 07:40 PM (#1393738) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Charley Noble Someone should suggest that this song is not politically correct. There, I've done it. I feel so much better. Charley Noble |
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30 Jan 05 - 09:51 PM (#1393847) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: GUEST,folkiefrank Somewhere in the depths of my attic I have a recording of this song, taped from an early 70's Jim Lloyd's programme of Folk on 2 (Hellooooow), by a chap called Johnston Elwood. On the same prog he sang a song called "Dan Leno's Hornpipe" which featured a recording o f an actual Dan Leno clog dance. I suppose it must have been a record revue of an LP(remember them?) but it's so long ago I can't remember. Auld Timer's disease I call it! So Whatever happened to J.E.?........... |
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29 Mar 06 - 01:44 PM (#1705794) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Mr Happy I've always understodd it as Too much of the Barbaryee-eye-ee, Kye-eye Poss reference to Barbary pirates or to barbarians? |
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29 Mar 06 - 04:19 PM (#1705962) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Barry Finn A few years back I heard Shanty Jack do a great redition of this in concert at a Mystic Sea Music Festival. Plainly politcally incorrect, after a sceptial but hardy applause. The MC, Craig Edwards, handled the situation with the touch of a master by saying "here at Mystic we may not do things correct all the time but we always do them right" or something to that effect. If it doesn't get sung it on no use to let it collect dust buried in a book some where, might as well just burn the book & toss it, though a little bit of sensitivity wouldn't harm the song. Barry |
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29 Mar 06 - 04:43 PM (#1705971) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze Ri From: gnomad folkiefrank: Johnston Elwood was awarded a (gold?) medal by EFDSS during the 70s, having played a large part in the survival of the Durham style of clog dancing. He was then quite an old man and could dance only for a short time, taking his weight on his arms onto two chair backs, or with two helpers taking the place of the chairs. His sense of humour seemed strong, though, and he appreciated a comic song and dance act called, IIRC, the Marrers. I haven't heard of his having died, but I have also not heard his name come up for a long time. Somewhere I should have some pics of the medal ceremony, better start rooting. |
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29 Mar 06 - 08:01 PM (#1706106) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: EBarnacle In his "Bowsprit Ashore," Alexander Bone refers to a Hobson Jobson and uses similar distortions to refer to a Chinese celebration, in the case of the story, a holiday. Consider that some of the distortions might have sounded like Chinese speech to the sailors hearing it. |
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30 Mar 06 - 05:38 PM (#1706992) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Charley Noble Nice background information on this horrid song! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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30 Mar 06 - 11:58 PM (#1707215) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: LadyJean If you can find it, Clam Chowder recorded the shanty on one of their early collections. Look them up and you'll find Wing Chang Lu and a bunch of other great shanties. |
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05 Aug 08 - 08:13 AM (#2405623) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Mr Happy http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=v3ku0c8SrYw |
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05 Aug 08 - 10:50 AM (#2405718) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: GUEST,leeneia I've enjoyed hearing about this song, which manages to be clever and silly at the same time. Under the guidelines for the Enforcement Arm of the Pan-Global Association for the Relentlessly Politically Correct, silliness is permitted by paragraph 35427654(b)16-w subparagraph 4. ==== Thanks for the first-hand observations, Shanghai. That was esp. interesting about the pumpkinseeds and the eggs. |
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05 Aug 08 - 05:25 PM (#2406041) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: GUEST,The Vulgar Boatman As far as I recall, boberee is pidgin for idle chatter or nonsense. |
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05 Aug 08 - 10:18 PM (#2406204) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: GUEST,leeneia That makes the most sense, so far, Boatman. Or should I call you Vulgar? On second thought, no. |
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06 Aug 08 - 08:48 AM (#2406435) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: Mr Happy The U Tube chap sings well, but it's not exactly the same tune I've heard by singers in Cheshire & Shropshire - maybe its regional variations? |
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27 Apr 15 - 10:07 PM (#3704724) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Win Chan Lu, sailed on the Yangtze River From: wysiwyg Given the US history of Jim Crow, are there any other acceptable versions? |