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12 Music of the Waters. |
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Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande. Away you Rio, &c. Solo.—Then I can't marry you, my pretty maid. Solo.—Then I can't marry you, my pretty maid. Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande. Away you Rio, &c. Solo.—Nobody asked you, sir, she said. Solo.—Nobody asked you, sir, she said. Chorus.—I am bound to the Rio Grande. Away you Rio, &c."
American vessels, I think, may be charged with the following, which are all capstan chanties,—" Oceanida," "Johnny's Gone," " The Black Ball Line," and " Slapander-gosheka," the last-named with the incomprehensible title is addressed "To all you ladies now on land," and may be said to be slightly egotistical; it commences—
" Have you got, lady, a daughter so fair ? Slapandergosheka, That is fit for a sailor that has crossed the Line ? Slapandergosheka."
By the foregoing it will be seen that Jack sometimes " fancies himself," and is not always blind to his own merits.
It is almost impossible to discover which are British and. which American, amongst the chanties, they are so mixed up with each other, and any which may formerly have been characteristic of the one country, have become so cosmopolitan, that the sailors themselves have been unable to discriminate between them. I have, therefore, acting upon some very reliable advice, thought it better to classify under one heading all chanties with English words, although there are many cases where the nationality is beyond doubt. Coloured men being, as a rule, such good singers and ingenious poets, may be credited with many ; and most probably "Slapandergosheka' was first pronounced by some more than usually clever nigger. One of the best known of the capstan chanties is " Haul the |
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