DIRTY OLD TOWN
I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
I kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town… Dirty old town
Clouds are drifting across the moon
Cats are prowling on their beat
springs a girl from the streets at night
Dirty old town… Dirty old town
I heard a siren from the docks
Saw a train set the night on fire
I smelled the spring on the smoky wind
Dirty old town… Dirty old town
​
I'm gonna make me a big sharp axe
Shining steel tempered in the fire
I'll chop you down like an old dead tree
Dirty old town… Dirty old town
I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
I kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town… Dirty old town
Dirty old town --- Dirty old town
***
D
DOODLE LET ME GO
​
It’s of the merchant’s daught-a-ter, way down in Cali-e-o
​
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
And the knocking shop called Madame Ca-ci, a place where you should go
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go.
Doodle let me me go, me gal, doodle let me go.
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go.
As I was out a-walking, down by the river side,
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
T’was there I saw a yellow girl, a-swimming in the tide,
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
She swung her hips, she tripped her feet,
she winked her sassy eye
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
She took me back to Madame Ca-ci,
to see how I would lie
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
​
She took me in, she gave me gin,
she laid me on the floor,
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
She stripped me of me pay me boys,
and showed me to the door
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
I fell into the street, me boys,
without a dime to spare
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
I wore a smile upon my face,
that gal she put it there
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
One day I’ll make that port again, down in Cali-c-o
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
I’ll set a course to Madame Ca-ci,
and take that gal in tow!
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go!
​
2 X Doodle let me me go, me gal, doodle let me go.
Hoo-rah, me yellow girls, doodle let me go.
Hey!
***
DRINKING OF THE WINE
​ (Words in Parentheses
are sung by they SHANTYMAN)
​
CHORUS:
(Drinkin' of the)
wine, wine, wine.
(Drinkin' of the)
wine, holy wine.
(You ought o' been)
there ten thousand years,
Drinkin' of the wine.
---
(Drink it brothers)
drink it free,
(Flows from the)
root of a tender tree.
(You ought o' been)
there ten thousand years,
Drinking of the wine.
Chorus
​
(If my mother)
calls for me,
(You tell her that)
death has summoned me.
(You ought o' been)
there ten thousand years,
Drinking of the wine.
Chorus
​
(If my sister)
calls for me,
(Tell her to)
meet me at Galilee.
(You ought o' been)
there ten thousand years,
Drinking of the wine.
Chorus
***
DONKEY RIDING
Wuz you ever in Quebec
Launchin' timber on the deck?
Where ye'd break yer bleedin' neck
Riding on a donkey!
Chorus: Way hay an' away we go,
Donkey riding, donkey riding!
Way hay an' away we go,
Riding on a donkey!
​
Wuz you ever in Timbucktoo
Where the gals are black an' blue?
And they waggle their bustles too,
Riding on a donkey.
CHORUS
Wuz you ever in Vallipo
Where the gals put on a show?
Waggle an' dance with a roll and go,
Riding on a donkey.
CHORUS
Wuz you ever in Mobile Bay,
Screwin' cotton all the day?
A dollar a day is a white man's pay,
Riding on a donkey.
CHORUS
Wuz you ever in London town,
Where the gals they do come down?
See the king in a golden crown,
Riding on a donkey.
CHORUS
Wuz you ever off Cape Horn,
Where the weather's never warm,
When you wish for the Lord ye'd never bin born?
Riding on a donkey.
CHORUS
***
DREADFUL LIFE
​
I have sailed across the ocean, I have rolled upon the sea
And this dreadful life I’m living is just the life for me
---
When I was just a young man I left my family
Set out upon the raging main to serve Amerikee
But when the fight was over I found I needed more
I signed on board a packet ship bound for some distant shore
I have . . .
Chorus:
Sailed across the ocean,
I have rolled upon the sea
And this dreadful life I’m living is just the life for me
I went down to a native bar when we put out to shore
Got drinking ale and whiskey till I was good and poor
When I awoke beside me laid a girl I didn’t know
Just proves that heathen whiskey can lay a sailor low
I have . . .
Chorus:
It’s haul and sail and limey boys, it’s pushing capstan round
It is working pumps and windlass and praying for the sound
The sound of a bosun’ calling to take us all below
And end the pain of everyday a sailor’s come to know
I have . . .
Chorus:
As we sailed in the back stream at the old New London port
I heard the music playing and the dancing on the wharf
The people there was happy ‘cos our ship was comin’ in
And friends and their relations would not go to sea again
I have . . .
Chorus:
When the mighty ocean tells me with a piece of broken deck
That life on land’s not half as bad as living through a wreck
So I’ll be going home me boys to the friends I used to know
And hoist a jar to every man who has the urge to roam
I have . . .
FINAL Chorus – TWICE ~ Slow down 2nd time
Sailed across the ocean, I have rolled upon the sea
And this dreadful life I USED TO LIVE
is NOT the life for me
***
DRUNKEN SAILOR
​
CHORUS:
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Early in the mornin'
​
What do ya do with a drunken sailor?
CHORUS:
Shave his belly with a rusty razor
CHORUS:
Put him in a long boat 'til he's sober
CHORUS:
Stick him in the scupper with a hosepipe on him
CHORUS:
Put him in the bed with the captain's daughter
CHORUS:
Have you seen the captain's daughter
CHORUS:
That's what you do with a drunken sailor
CHORUS:
------
(There may be a additional verses offered)
***
(The Schooner) DENNIS SULLIVAN
(m: The Bigler, w: Paul Kaplan,
Sara Pirtle, Tom Balding, Pete Seeger
& several others.)
Come gather ‘round good people,
a song we’ll sing to you
Of the schooner Denis Sullivan
and how we built her true
In the city of Milwaukee,
way back in eighty-nine
A few hopeful men and women
first volunteered their time
CHORUS
Watch ‘em, catch ‘em,
the breezes blow for free
Like ideas and hopes
they flow through you, and you,
and you and me
But if we work together,
no matter where we come from
Who knows what kind of miracles
there are still yet to come
Frank Steeves was a young lawyer
when he first caught the dream
He heard about Clearwater
cleaning up the Hudson stream
Lady Maryland on the Chesapeake
and other far and near
We’ve got these noble Great Lakes,
why can’t we do it here?
CHORUS
Skilled workers came from all around
when we sent out the appeal
The city gave us a downtown pier
and there we laid the keel
With volunteers both young and old,
it was a sight to see
Tourists came and paid cold cash
to see them working hard for free
CHORUS
We went to see the Menonominee
to buy six tall white pine
To make three strong and stately masts
to hold the sails and lines
“We’re not allowed to sell them!
No that we cannot do
But if you’re out to save the lakes
we’ll give all six to you.
CHORUS
But building this great schooner
is not without it’s costs
To troubles with construction, add:
a human life was lost
A full eight years a building,
but now it’s worth it you’ll agree
We’re all proud to see the Denis Sullivan
sailing the Inland sea.
CHORUS - 2 X
​
***