The traditional sea chantey, "Leave Her Johnny," sung by English folk singer Johnny Collins.

Johnny Collins (10 May 1938 – 6 July 2009) was an English folk singer based in London, England, specializing in traditional maritime music and sea shanties.
Collins was born in Norfolk, England and adopted by a railway worker and a music teacher living in Norwich. He joined the British Army in 1956, where he learned to play the guitar in jazz and folk clubs while posted in London. He was posted to Singapore in 1959 where he began performing in bars and cabarets in his off hours, and was posted to Hong Kong in 1965 where he began performing large concerts with other folk performers in the British and U.S. military.

He also performed on television and radio (including the "Voice of America in East Asia") and played venues like the Hong Kong Hilton. In 1967 he was posted again to Singapore where he began his own folk club at the Anophel Inn. Tom Lewis and Pam Ayres performed there, among others. He was demobilized ("demobbed") in 1968, and he began to perform full-time.

In 1983 he and Jim Mageean, performing as a duo, won the Intervision Song Contest in Rostock, in East Germany. Later, in 1987, they were invited by the East German government to perform at a sea shanty festival in Berlin commemorating the city's founding. Collins and his business partner Joyce Squires, assisted by Bernard Peek ran The Singing Chef. This service provided a wide range of home-cooked food at smaller folk-festivals throughout the UK. On occasions Collins sang on-stage wearing his chef's toque supported by backing singers (The Cheffettes) drawn from his kitchen brigade.

Although slowed down by health problems, Collins continued to tour and perform worldwide up to the time of his death. including in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland and France as well as making frequent appearances in his native country at Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races, and maritime festivals at Hull, Lancaster, Bristol, Dundee, Maldon, Portsmouth, Gosport, Greenwich and Chatham. He died on 6 July 2009 while on tour in Gdańsk, Poland, aged 71. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Collins

LEAVE HER JOHNNY - LYRICS
Oh the work was hard and the wages low
Leave her Johnny, leave her
I guess it's time for us to go
And it's time for us to leave her
Leave her Johnny leave her
Oh leave her Johnny, leave her
Oh the voyage is done and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her

Oh I thought I heard the old man say
Leave her Johnny, leave her
Oh tomorrow you will get your pay
And it's time for us to leave her
Leave her Johnny, leave her
Oh, leave her Johnny, leave her
Oh the voyage is done and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her

The winds blew foul and the seas ran high
Leave her Johnny, leave her
We shipped up green and none went by
And it's time for us to leave her
Leave her, Johnny, leave her
Oh leave her Johnny, leave her
Oh the voyage is done and
Oh the voyage is done and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her

The mate was a bucco and the old man was a Turk.
Leave her Johnny, leave her.
And the boatswain was a begger with a middle name of work
And it's time for us to leave her.
Leave her Johnny, leave her,
Oh leave her Johnny, leave her.
Oh the voyage is done and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her.

The old man swears, and the mate swears too,
Leave her Johnny, leave her.
The crew all swear, and so would you
And it's time for us to leave her,
Leave her Johnny, leave her,
Oh leave her Johnny, leave her.
Oh the voyage is done and the winds don't blow
And its time for us to leave her.

The starboard pump is like the crew
Leave her Johnny, leave her.
It's all worn out and will not do
And it's time for us to leave her,
Leave her Johnny, leave her,
Oh leave her Johnny, leave her.
Oh the voyage is done and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her.

The rats have gone and we the crew
Leave her Johnny, leave her.
It's the time be-damned that we went too
And it's time for us to leave her,
Leave her Johnny, leave her,
Oh leave her Johnny, leave her.
Oh the voyage is done and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her.

 Well I pray that we shall ne're more see
Leave her Johnny, leave her.
A hungry ship, the likes of she
And it's time for us to leave her,
Leave her Johnny, leave her,
Oh leave her Johnny, leave her.
Oh the voyage is done and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her.

Recorded in the summer of 1976 in Woodstock, NY Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay: Hudson Valley Songs Old & New was released in October of that year. Designed to be a booster for the replica sloop Clearwater, as well as to tap into the national interest in history thanks to the bicentennial, the album includes a mixture of traditional songs and new songs. This album is a recording to songs relating to the Hudson River, which played a major role in the commercial life and early history of New York State, including the Revolutionary War. Folk singer Ed Renehan (born 1956), who was a member of the board of the Clearwater, sings and plays guitar along with Pete Seeger. William Gekle, who wrote the lyrics for five of the songs, also wrote the liner notes, which detail the context of each song and provide the lyrics. This booklet designed and the commentary written by William Gekle who also wrote the lyrics for: Fifty Sail, Moon in the Pear Tree, The Phoenix and the Rose, Old Ben and Sally B., and The Burning of Kingston.

The Hudson River Valley was settled by people who came from many parts of the world. They often brought with them the songs they had known in their homeland and, in time, these songs acquired a local flavor. One of these songs originally came from Ireland in a somewhat different form. John Allison, who wrote “Hudson River Steamboat” adapted and arranged this traditional song – and called it Tarrytown. https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW05257.pdf

In Tarrytown I did dwell
And a lovely youth, I knew him well.
He courted me, my life away,
But now with me he will no longer stay.
Wide and deep my grave will be
With the  wild goose grasses growin’ over me.

Wide and deep my grave will be
With the wild goose grasses growin’ over me.

There is an inn, in Tarrytown,
Where my loves goes and sits him down.
He takes another on his knee,
For she has gold and riches more than me.
Wide and deep my grave will be
With the wild goose grasses growin’ over me.

Wide and deep my grave will be
With the wild goose grasses growin’ over me.

When I wore my apron low,
He’d follow me through rain and snow,
Now that I wear my apron high,
He goes right down my street and passes by.
Wide and deep my grave will be
With the wild goose grass growin’ over me.

Wide and deep my grave will be
With the wild goose grass growin’ over me.

In Tarrytown I did dwell
And a lovely youth, I knew him well.
He courted me, my life away,
But now with me he will no longer stay.
Wide and deep my grave will be
With the wild goose grasses growin’ over me.

Wide and deep my grave will be
With the wild goose grasses growin’ over me.

​An original song by Melissa Holland. Performed by Melissa Holland (keyboard and vocals) with photography by Paul Hewitt. Melissa and Paul live in Beacon, New York on the Hudson River. Beacon was Pete Seeger's home town, and he was dedicated to revitalizing the Hudson after it had been badly contaminated by pollution. Melissa Holland performed regularly with Pete Seeger, and she performs regularly at the Hudson Valley Folk Guild.

THE HUDSON RIVER FLOWS - LYRICS

​We know the Hudson River flows
North and South, fast and slow
We know the Hudson River flows
She’s alive and well today

Years ago, they said she was dead
But people got together and they used their heads
Some said the future looked grim
But they dove right in

We know the Hudson River flows
North and South, fast and slow
We know the Hudson River flows
She’s alive and well today

Working, planning, side by side
Before too long they turned the tide
But the job is never done
It goes on and on

We know the Hudson River flows
North and South, fast and slow
We know the Hudson River flows
She’s alive and well today

Put those big old frackers down
Leave the gas underground
There’s power sources we’ve ignored.
That we can explore.

If we want her to stay
Education is the way
Don’t give up
Stand your ground and pass the torch on down.

We know the Hudson River flows
North and South, fast and slow
We know the Hudson River flows
She’s alive and well today
She’s alive and well today
She’s alive and well today

​Thanks to HRMM volunteer Mark Heller for sharing his knowledge of Hudson River music history for this series.​

Vienna Carroll performs this version of Shallow Brown, a Caribbean sea shanty. Ms. Carroll has written a musical play about pre-Civil War Black sailors. The sea shanty Shallow Brown is a song by and about a Jamaican slave sold off to a Yankee ship owner, who is jumping ship to find a better life.  Shallow Brown shares the under-told story of the critical impact of Black sailors on the antebellum maritime economy and on the lives of the Black community and it highlights their activities in the Underground Railroad. Vienna presented an excerpt (and research journey) at the 39th Mystic Sea Music Festival Symposium in 2018 and debuted a full reading at the Langston Hughes House in Harlem in the Fall. She kicked off the first Langston Hughes playwright showcase to a packed house on May 3, 2019. Vienna was scheduled to perform at the Cold Springs Whaling Museum and at the 41st Mystic Sea Music Festival this year in 2020. http://shallowbrown.com/

​Vienna Carroll is a singer, playwright, actor, historian and herbalist. Vienna learned music from the Black Ladies of her youth, including her fearsome great grandmother who played guitar to country singer Minnie Pearl on Saturday night radio but only proper Pentecostal chords in church on Sunday.  Vienna also sang in the choir at her family’s AME church, and attended her godmother’s Baptist church.  At her Alabama grandmother’s 125 acre working farm, she listened to gospel and country on the radio and joined in the Sunday church services an hour’s drive away down a dusty road, where singing was often accompanied only by the hand clapping and shouting of its fervent members.  She later formalized her study of early African American music and culture at Yale University, where she received a BA in African American Studies. http://viennacarroll.com/
​

SHALLOW BROWN - LYRICS

​Say I’m going away to leave you, Oh, Shallow Brown
Yes, I’m going away to leave you, Oh, Shallow Brown

Say I’m signed on to a whaler, Oh, Shallow Brown
I’m signed on for a sailor, Oh, Shallow Brown

Well I've got my clothes in order, Oh, Shallow Brown
‘Cause my packet leaves tomorrow, Oh, Shallow Brown

Say I love you Juliana, Oh, Shallow Brown
Yes I love you Juliana, Oh, Shallow Brown

Say my master’s gonna sell me, Oh, Shallow Brown
Says he’ll sell me to a Yankee, Oh, Shallow Brown

Says he’ll sell me for a dollar, Oh, Shallow Brown
A big, fat Spanish dollar, Oh, Shallow Brown

Gonna climb the Chili mountain, Oh, Shallow Brown
Gonna find the silver fountain, Oh, Shallow Brown

Say I’m bound away for to leave you, Oh, Shallow Brown
But I never will deceive you, Oh, Shallow Brown

Fare you well, my Juliana, Oh, Shallow Brown
Fare you well, my Juliana, Oh, Shallow Brown

Recorded in the summer of 1976 in Woodstock, NY Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay: Hudson Valley Songs Old & New was released in October of that year. Designed to be a booster for the replica sloop Clearwater, as well as to tap into the national interest in history thanks to the bicentennial, the album includes a mixture of traditional songs and new songs. This album is a recording to songs relating to the Hudson River, which played a major role in the commercial life and early history of New York State, including the Revolutionary War. Folk singer Ed Renehan (born 1956), who was a member of the board of the Clearwater, sings and plays guitar along with Pete Seeger. William Gekle, who wrote the lyrics for five of the songs, also wrote the liner notes, which detail the context of each song and provide the lyrics. This booklet designed and the commentary written by William Gekle who also wrote the lyrics for: Fifty Sail, Moon in the Pear Tree, The Phoenix and the Rose, Old Ben and Sally B., and The Burning of Kingston.

The men who sailed the sloops on the Hudson River, a hundred years or more ago, came from the farms and villages along its shores. Even long after they became experienced skippers, they spoke and thought more like farmers than sailors. They knew, or came to know, that the moon affected the tides. They knew that when the moon was in the Apogee, the tides were apt to run low and slow, and that when the moon was in the Perigee, the tides were likely to run higher and faster.
Being farmers and countrymen at heart, they translated these terms into something with which they were familiar. And so they said that when the moon was in Apogee – it was in the apple tree. And when the moon was in Perigee, it was in the pear tree. 
https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW05257.pdf

Look up, sailor, and you’ll see,
The moon hangin’ up in the old pear tree,
The old pear tree on the crest of the hill,
While the moon draws the tide and the rivers fill.
What better can a sailor hope to see
Than the moon hangin’ up in the old pear tree!

Look up, sailor, and you’ll see
The moon hangin’ up in the apple tree,
The apple tree grows in the yard out back
While the moon holds the tide and the waters slack,
So a sailor’s not so very glad to see
The moon hangin’ up in the apple tree.

Look up, sailor, and don’t be sad,
The wind and the tide are bringin’ up shad,
The shad and smelt and the sturgeon too,
Comin’ up the River like they used to do.
So look up, sailor, and pray to see
The moon hangin’ up in the old pear tree.
​
Look ahead, sailor, and you’ll see,
Times a-comin’ back like they used to be,
When the water’s clear and way up high
Once more you see the stars in a clear blue sky.
What better can a sailor hope to see
Than the moon hangin’ up in the old pear tree.

Recorded in the summer of 1976 in Woodstock, NY Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay: Hudson Valley Songs Old & New was released in October of that year. Designed to be a booster for the replica sloop Clearwater, as well as to tap into the national interest in history thanks to the bicentennial, the album includes a mixture of traditional songs and new songs. This album is a recording to songs relating to the Hudson River, which played a major role in the commercial life and early history of New York State, including the Revolutionary War. Folk singer Ed Renehan (born 1956), who was a member of the board of the Clearwater, sings and plays guitar along with Pete Seeger. William Gekle, who wrote the lyrics for five of the songs, also wrote the liner notes, which detail the context of each song and provide the lyrics. This booklet designed and the commentary written by William Gekle who also wrote the lyrics for: Fifty Sail, Moon in the Pear Tree, The Phoenix and the Rose, Old Ben and Sally B., and The Burning of Kingston.

Whenever two boats, whether they were sailing sloops or side-wheel steamers, were heading in the same direction on the Hudson River they challenged each other to a race. These races were not always sport alone. Since the sloops carried farm products from one town landing to the next along the river, there were commercial advantages in being the first to dock and start selling their cargo. Some of the races were establish a reputation for being a fast sailor – such as the race between the “Sally B.” and the “Ben Franklin” as they sailed upriver one summer day.
​https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW05257.pdf
​

​The sloop “Sally B”. sailing up the Tappan Zee,
As fast a little sloop as you’d ever want to see.
She was ninety feet tall and had a boom to match
The little “Sally B.” was always pretty hard to catch.

The old “Ben Franklin” was a mighty fast one too,
The mainsail and the jib they were both brand new,
And the captain Mike Payne, he swore a mighty oath
That he’d beat the “Sally B.” or sink them both.

Then the old “Ben Franklin” and the saucy “Sally B.”
Started racing up the river from the Tappan Zee.
“Sally” led the race every bit of the way
From the beginning to the end of the Haverstraw Bay.

Then they turned into the river where it wasn’t very wide,
At much closer quarters they were side by side,
And the skippers both agreed that the race would end
At the very next point around the very next bend.

Now lying dead ahead and looming very large,
Loaded with stone was an up-state barge.
The tide had turned her broadside and there she lay
They couldn’t sail around her there wasn’t any way.

Oh, the old ”Ben Franklin” and the saucy ” Sally B.”
As fast a pair of sloops as you’d ever want to see,
They hit the barge together and they both sank fast
But the old “Ben Franklin” hit the bottom last!

​Thanks to HRMM volunteer Mark Heller for sharing his knowledge of Hudson River music history for this series.

​If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!​

History of the Delaware & Hudson Canal - Supplying coal to the 19th century industrial era.
 
From its opening in 1828 till its closing in 1899, the barges of the D&H canal carried anthracite coal from the mines of Northeastern Pennsylvania to the Hudson River at Kingston where it was transshipped to market in New York City.

William Wurts was the first to explore the anthracite coal fields of North East Pennsylvania. He believed anthracite, sometimes known as “hard coal” could be burnt for heating and fueling of steam boilers.   He brought samples back to Philadelphia for successful testing.  When restrictions were placed on the import of British coal and inspired by the success of the newly opened Erie Canal , Wurts wanted to build a canal of his own from Pennsylvania to New York, through the narrow valley between the Shawangunk Ridge and the Catskill Mountains ending at the Hudson River near Kingston.

William convinced his brothers Charles and Maurice to join him in creating the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company.  In 1823 they successfully obtained charters from the States of New York and Pennsylvania to establish the canal company.  Unlike the Champlain and Erie Canals the D&H company was to be privately financed. To attract investment, the brothers arranged for a demonstration of burning of anthracite in New York City in January of 1825. The reaction was enthusiastic, and the stock oversubscribed within hours raising 1.3 million dollars.

D&H canal construction started in May 1825 and was completed October 1828 with the labor of 2500 men.  The engineering challenges were significant as the canal had to climb 600 feet from the Hudson River at Rondout to reach the Delaware River and then proceed to Honesdale Pennsylvania. Overall 108 locks were required to travel the 108 miles. Fifteen miles of gravity railroad brought the coal over mountains, which were too steep for a canal, from the mines near Carbondale to be loaded on barges at Honesdale. The canal had to cross the Delaware River and did so using a slack water dam allowing barges to float across relatively still water of the Delaware.  In 1847 a suspension bridge aqueduct designed by the now famous engineer John A. Roebling, increased traffic capacity and reduced conflict with log rafters bringing timber down river.

The canal was quite successful and by 1832 carried 90,000 tons of coal and three million board-feet of lumber.   Also shipped down the canal was Rosendale cement, bluestone, and agricultural products.  With the canal’s success the communities along the canal grew into vibrant villages and towns. High Falls, Ellenville, Wurtsboro, and Port Jervis are present day reminders of the canal’s economic impact.

During the later part of the 19th century, the canal faced increasing competition from railroads which ultimately benefited from a more direct route across New Jersey and the ability to operate for much of the winter, while the canal boats were wintering over, iced in at Rondout and New York. The canal ceased operation in 1899.Unlike many other canals of the 19th century the D&H canal remained a profitable private operation for most of its existence.

Roy Justice is a singing historian known as a Time Travelling Minstrel. He presents programs on different aspects and topics of American History, combining music of the time period with the historical landscape within which the music was a part. ​https://royhjustice.com/home

THE D & H CANAL - LYRICS

Around and round the Wurtsboro Bend
The big boat chased the squeezer
Ed Lax’s  boat had passed them both
Slicker than the weasel

In eighteen hundred and seventy-eight the canal was hit by a freshet
The embankment broke and flooded the vly
The damage was terrific.

A load of cement went through the break
Houses and barns were uprooted
To try and save whatever they could
To the river the big boat scooted

There was a girl named Sarah Jane
And a youth named Samuel
They courted long and happily
On the D&H Canal

They loved each other tenderly
And the Rosendale folks all said
That before the boating season was o’er
These lovers would be wed. These lovers would be wed.
​
But they never did, for he succumbed to hard times.
And his lifeless body was buried six feet beneath the sod
Along the Twelve Mile level.

And e’re her lover was dead one week
She started keeping company
With a junk dealer that did live up back in Rondout.
Up back in Rondout.
From “Of Canals and Coal”. Roy Justice Time Travelling Minstrel. 2007. 

Recorded in the summer of 1976 in Woodstock, NY Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay: Hudson Valley Songs Old & New was released in October of that year. Designed to be a booster for the replica sloop Clearwater, as well as to tap into the national interest in history thanks to the bicentennial, the album includes a mixture of traditional songs and new songs. This album is a recording to songs relating to the Hudson River, which played a major role in the commercial life and early history of New York State, including the Revolutionary War. Folk singer Ed Renehan (born 1956), who was a member of the board of the Clearwater, sings and plays guitar along with Pete Seeger. William Gekle, who wrote the lyrics for five of the songs, also wrote the liner notes, which detail the context of each song and provide the lyrics. This booklet designed and the commentary written by William Gekle who also wrote the lyrics for: Fifty Sail, Moon in the Pear Tree, The Phoenix and the Rose, Old Ben and Sally B., and The Burning of Kingston.

"The Hudson River has been many things to many people. During the Revolutionary War, the Americans regarded it as their lifeline. To the British, it was not only an invasion route from Canada, but the dividing line that could cut the American colonies in two. In the summer of 1776, the British under General Burgoyne came down from Canada to seize the upper Hudson while a great British naval force entered New York harbor with the intention of seizing the lower Hudson.

Two small British frigates were sent up into the Hudson to test the strength of the American defenses. The 44-gun Phoenix, under Captain Hyde Parker, and the 20-gun Rose, under Captain James Wallace, along with three escort vessels forced their way through a tremendous bombardment from the American forts on the Manhattan and Jersey shores. They reached the Tappan Sea virtually unharmed and spent the entire summer terrorizing the towns and villages along the River as far north as Peekskill. The British made many attempts to land, seizing cattle and other previsions wherever they could. They were not always successful, as we hear in this ballad describing an attempted attack on Peekskill."  This booklet designed and the commentary written by William Gekle who also wrote the lyrics for: Fifty Sail, Moon in the Pear Tree, The Phoenix and the Rose, Old Ben and Sally B., and The Burning of Kingston.​ https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW05257.pdf
​

​"THE PHOENIX AND THE ROSE" LYRICS

Upon the lordly Hudson
On a pleasant summer's day,
His Majesty's ships Phoenix
and the Rose at Anchor lay.
They had spent the day in shooting up
The towns along the shore,
A sport the gunners much enjoyed
But the captains found a bore.

It was tea time on the Phoenix,
So the Captain rang his bell
And he asked the Captain's Steward
“Now then where's my tea, pray tell?”
The Steward was embarrassed
And he said, “Well, Sir, you see,
There's not a blinking thing aboard
To serve you with your tea.”

“Not a thing aboard the Phoenix
With her four-and-forty guns!

Not a thing aboard the Phoenix
In her gross two-hundred tons?
Not a blinking thing aboard the ship
To serve me with my tea?
What sort of nonsense, Steward,
Is this you're telling me!”

“It's been quite a busy day, Sir,
What with all the shelling.
And the raiding and the burning
And the general raise-helling.
What's more the natives are unhappy, Sir,
And we've aroused their ire,
And some have them , by God, Sir,
Have dared return our fire!”

The Steward then went on to say
That in view of all the shooting,
There'd been precious little time to spare
For foraging and looting.
Because of which, aboard the ship
Of some four-and-forty guns,
There was not a single thing to eat
But some carrots and stale buns.

“Now blast me eyes and damme too!”
Cried Captain Sir Hyde Parker,
“Bestir yourself and bestir the crew
Before it gets much darker!
Lower a boat or two or four
And pull for that damn rebellious shore
And capture and seize a well-stocked store
Or I'll give the lot of you what for!”

Meanwhile aboard the frigate Rose
There was scarcely a bite or nibble,
And Captain Wallace sent his boats ashore
With orders not to quibble,
But to take whatever they came upon,
Whatever was to their taste,
“Now hurry, me lads”, the Captain said,
“There's little time to waste!”

The crew of the gallant Phoenix now
Had stormed the Peekskill shore,
And joined by the crew of the gallant Rose
They marched on the Peekskill store.
Not a rebel at all did they meet in town,
Not a single shot was fired,
The Peekskill folk had taken their wives
And prudently retired.

Into the empty town they went,
As bold as they could be,
Into the vacant stores they stormed
In search of things for tea.
Alas, they found but empty shelves,
Not a single thing remained,
At which the sailors cursed the town
In language unrestrained.

Not a scrap of food in all the town,
Not a single bite to eat,
And the bugler scarcely had the strength
To sound the sad retreat.
Back to their ships they slowly rowed,
In anger and in sorrow,
For they had no tea on that summer's day
And they had none for tomorrow.
​
Upon the lordly Hudson,
On a pleasant summer's night,
The villagers of Peekskill
Beheld a pleasant sight.
The British ships had sailed away,
Hungry from head to toes,
And Peekskill won the battle
With the Phoenix and the Rose.

​An original song by Melissa Holland, performed by Ms Holland (keyboard and vocals) with photography by Paul Hewitt. Melissa and Paul live in Beacon, NY located in Dutchess County on the Hudson River. Beacon was Pete Seeger's hometown, and he was dedicated to revitalizing the Hudson after it had been badly contaminated by pollution. Melissa Holland performed regularly with Pete Seeger, and this was his favorite song of hers. She's an active member and regular performer at the Hudson Valley Folk Guild and the Hyde Park Free Library.

I'M SO LUCKY I LIVE BY THE RIVER (HUDSON RIVER)" LYRICS

​I’m so lucky I live by the river
I’m so lucky I can hear the sound
Of the waves against the rocks
And the rustling of the trees
See the skies reflection change from blue to bright green
I’m so lucky I live by the river
I’m so lucky I live by the river
I’m so lucky the mountains reach its shores
Towering above me, like giant palace walls
These ancient granite statues make me feel so safe and small

I’m so lucky I live by the river
I can swim or climb, I can sit and stare
I can slow down time or immerse myself in prayer
I’m so lucky I live by the river
I’m so lucky to walk out on the dock
And watch the colored kayaks race on by
The graceful sailboats lean
The fishermen so quiet cast their lines and cast their dreams
I’m so lucky I live by the river​

​If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!​

A Sailor's Prayer is presented here by Mosaic Whispers. In a time of uncertainty and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, members of Mosaic Whispers from throughout the years unite to sing their alumni song Sailor's Prayer virtually. 85 voices, 29 years. Sailor's Prayer is written by Rod MacDonald, arranged by Jon Krivitzky, and sung by past and current members of Mosaic Whispers, the oldest all-gender a cappella group at Washington University in St. Louis. Sound mixing by P. Daniel Newman, video editing by Reynolds Whalen.

A Sailor's Prayer Lyrics

Though my sails be torn and tattered
And my mast be torned about
Let the night wind chill me to my very soul
Though the spray might sting my eye
And the stars no light provide
Give me just another morning light to hold

I will not lie me down, this rain a-ragin'
I will not lie me down, in such a storm
And if this night be unblessed, I shall not take my rest
Until I reach another shore

If the only water left
Is but salt to wound my thirst
I will drink the rain that falls so steady down
And though night's blindness be my gift
And there be thieves upon my drift
I will thank the fog that shelters me along

I will not lie me down, this rain a-ragin'
I will not lie me down, in such a storm
And if this night be unblessed, I shall not take my rest
Until I reach another shore

Though my mates be drained and weary
And believe all hopes are lost
There's no need for their bones
On that blackened bottom
Though death waits just off the bough
We'll not answer to him now
He shall stand to greet the morning light without us

I will not lie me down, this rain a-ragin'
I will not lie me down, in such a storm
And if this night be unblessed, I shall not take my rest
Until I reach another shore