Music Monday: Hudson River Steamboat

In 1976, the year of the Bicentennial, folksinger Pete Seeger and songwriter Ed Reneham released the album Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay. Designed as a fundraiser for the Hudson River Sloop Restoration, Inc. group, which would later becomes Clearwater, the album featured a number of traditional and original songs about the history of the Hudson River and other New York waterways. Recorded in Woodstock that summer and released in October, 1976, the album features Pete Seeger and Ed Reneham. 

This particular song, "Hudson River Steamboat" has a murky history, but appears to be a traditional tune. In the liner notes for Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay, William Gecke, lyricst for five of the original songs, wrote that "Hudson River Steamboat" was performed "as learned from John and Lucy Allison." 

"Hudson River Steamboat" Lyrics

Hudson River steamboat, Steamin’ up and down.
New York to Albany Or any river town.
Choo-choo to go ahead, Choo-choo to back ‘er.
Captain and the first mate, They both chew tobacker.

Oh, choo-choo to go ahead, choo-choo to slacker.
Packet boat, towboat, and a double-stacker.
Choo-choo to Tarrytown, Spuyten Duyvil all around.
Choo-choo to go ahead, choo-choo to back’er

Shad boat, pickle boat, lyin’ side by side.
Fisherfolk and sailormen waitin’ for the tide.
Raincloud, stormcloud over yonder hill.
Thunder on the Dunderberg the rumble’s in the kill.

Oh, choo-choo to go ahead, choo-choo to slacker.
Packet boat, towboat, and a double-stacker.
Choo-choo to Tarrytown, Spuyten Duyvil all around.
Choo-choo to go ahead, choo-choo to back’er.

The Sedgwick was racin’, and she lost all hope.
Used up her steam on the big calliope.
She was hoppin’ right along, she was hoppin’ quick,
All the way from Stony Point to Popalopen Creek.

Oh, choo-choo to go ahead, choo-choo to slacker.
Packet boat, towboat, and a double-stacker.
New York to Albany, Rondout and Tivoli.
Choo-choo to go ahead, choo-choo to back’er.

​Oh, choo-choo to go ahead, choo-choo to slacker.
Packet boat, towboat, and a double-stacker.

---

The General Sedgwick was a steamboat built in Jersey City in 1862 and was one of the last to be equipped with a steam calliope. If you have heard the organ-like music on an old-fashioned steam-powered carousel, you have an idea of what a steam calliope sounds like, but you can also listen to one here. 

Few calliopes were installed on Hudson River steamboats for one primary reason - sometimes they took all the steam! So the lyric, "The Sedgwick was racin’, and she lost all hope. Used up her steam on the big calliope," is a reference to using too much steam to make music, leaving too little to propel the engines. Calliope music could be heard for miles and although it must have been quite loud aboard, the sound was nonetheless much-beloved by New Yorkers. 

In the 1880s, the Sedgwick was renamed the "Bay Queen" and by the early 1900s was lying in wreck at Ward's Point, Staten Island.

If you'd like to hear a steamboat with a steam calliope in person, you can visit Lake George and take a ride aboard the Minnehaha, or listen to this great video of the Minne playing her calliope in a duet with its echo!

---

​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!

Donate Now

Join Today