Sea Shanties Song

This song has gone through the folk process with roots in Maine. This version is situated on the Erie Canal in New York State and comes to me via Cliff Haslam from Bonnie Milner who got it from John Mayberry of the Toronto Morris Men.

The Griswold Inn would be packed On 8:30 p.m. on any given Monday before the pandemic . A stately colonial building in the sleepy, coastal New England town of Essex, Connecticut,

Chorus:
Shove around the grog, boys,
The chorus around the room,
For we’re the boys that fear no noise
Although we’re far from home!

Well, I courted a girl in Albany,
One in Montreal,
One in Philadelphy,
But the best in Lewiston Falls.

Chorus:

When you get to Albany
Give the girls a call.
There’s not a tart to be compared,
With the ones from Lewiston Falls.

Chorus:

When I came on from Ireland
I was just a lad.
But working these canal boats
Is the only life I’ve had.

Chorus:

A dollar in a tavern
Is very easy spent.
If I had it in Ireland,
I’d have to pay down rent.

Chorus:

Amsterdam or Liverpool,
Rome or Syracuse,
If you’ve ever been to Lewiston Falls,
It’s the only place you’d choose.

Chorus:

A drunkard in the tavern,
A fish is in the sea!
The cork is in the bottle,
But the whiskey is in me!

Chorus: (2x)