Poor Paddy Works on the Railway

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Track workers in the USA

Poor Paddy Works on the Railway is an Irish and American folk song that is also sung as a sea ​​shanty . The play is about an Irish laborer who works on building a railway line . The song is known by a variety of titles including Pat Works on the Railway , Paddy on the Railway , Paddy Works on the Erie and Fillimiooriay . It is listed as number 208 in the Roud Folk Song Index .

story

In his 1927 book The American Songbag , writer and historian Carl Sandburg writes that the song had been published in sheet music since the early 1850s. However, the earliest confirmed publication to date was not until 1864 in a manuscript journal. The song was first recorded for the Library of Congress in 1938 and the recording was released in 1941.

The use of the song as a shanty is first attested in 1867 in Seven Years of a Sailor's Life by George Edward Clark. Clark recounts the songs the fishermen sang as they weighed anchor. One of these was called Paddy on the Railway . In On Board the Rocket , Robert Chamblet Adams (1879) gives examples of shanty melody and lyrics, including "Paddy, Come Work on the Railway".

text

The Great Famine in Ireland led to the emigration of large numbers of Irish people to Great Britain and the United States in the mid-19th century . There many found work in the construction of the railway then taking place . The song's lyrics reflect the work done by thousands of Irish track workers in the Irish diaspora .

The song sings about a period of several years from 1841. The name Paddy or Pat is a short form or pet form of the first name Pádraig (= Patrick ), which is particularly common in Ireland. In the song he stands for the type of Irish worker in general and does not refer to a specific person. Rather than telling a continuous story, the song strings together specific and sometimes random thoughts that rhyme with the year. This is shown, for example, by the out of context mention of the Irish politician Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847), who had no connection whatsoever to railway construction or track workers.

The lyrics have survived in different versions, two of which are reproduced below.

Lyrics

Chorus:
I'm weary of the railway
Poor Paddy works on the railway.

Verses:
In eighteen hundred and forty one
Me corduroy breeches I put on
Me corduroy breeches I put on
To work upon the railway, the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-two
I didn't know what I should do
I didn't know what I should do
To work upon the railway, the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-three
I sailed away across the sea
I sailed away across the sea
To work upon the railway, the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-four
I landed on Columbia's shore
I landed on Columbia's shore
To work upon the railway, the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-five
When Daniel O'Connell he was alive
When Daniel O'Connell he was alive
To work upon the railway, the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty- six
I changed my trade to carrying bricks
I changed my trade to carrying bricks
For working on the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-seven
Poor Paddy was thinking of going to Heaven
Poor Paddy was thinking of going to Heaven
To work upon the railway, the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-eight,
I learned to take my whiskey straight
I learned to take my whiskey straight
To work upon the railway, the railway

Rationale

:
I'm sick of the railroad
Poor Paddy works on the railroad.

Verses :
Eighteen
hundred and forty-one I put on my corduroys.
I put on my cords
to work on the railroad, the railroad.

Eighteen
forty two I didn't know what to do.
I didn't know what to do
to work on the railroad, the railroad.

Eighteen
forty-three I sailed away across the sea.
I sailed away across the sea
to work on the railroad, the railroad.

Eighteen
forty-four I landed on Columbia's shore.
I landed on Columbia's shore
To work on the railroad, the railroad.

Eighteen forty -five
When Daniel O'Connell was still alive
When Daniel O'Connell was still alive
To work on the railroad, the railroad.

Eighteen
forty-six I changed my job to hauling bricks.
I changed my job to hauling bricks
For work on the railroad.

Eighteen
forty-seven Poor Paddy was thinking of going to heaven.
Poor Paddy was thinking of going to heaven,
To work on the railroad, the railroad in

eighteen
forty-eight, I learned to drink my whiskey neat.
I learned to drink my whiskey neat.
To work on the railroad, the railroad

Alternative Lyrics

Chorus:
Fil-i-me-oo-ree-eye-ri-ay
Fil-i-me-oo-ree-eye-ri-ay
Fil-i-me-oo-ree-eye-ri-ay
To work upon the railway

Verses:
In eighteen hundred and forty-one
I put me cord'roy breeches on
I put me cord'roy breeches on
To work upon the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-two
I left the Old World for the new
Bad cess to the luck that brought me through
to work upon the railroad

When we left Ireland to come here
And spend our latter days in cheer
Our bosses, they did drink strong beer
And Pat worked on the railway

Our boss's name, it was Tom King
He kept a store to rob the men
A Yankee clerk with ink and pen
To cheat Pat on the railroad

It's "Pat do this" and "Pat do that"
Without a stocking or cravat
And nothing but an old straw hat
While Pat works on the railroad

One Monday morning to our surprise
Just a half an hour before sunrise
The dirty divil went to the skies
And Pat worked on the railroad

And when Pat lays him down to sleep
The wirey bugs creep around him
And d ivil a bit can poor Pat sleep
While he works on the railroad

In eighteen hundred and forty-three
'Twas then I met Miss Biddy MacGhee
And an illygant wife she's been to me
While workin' on the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty-seven
Sweet Biddy MacGhee, she went to heaven
If she left one child, she left seven
To work upon the railway

In eighteen hundred and forty eight
I learned to take my whiskey straight
'Tis an illygant wife and can't be bate
For working on the railway

Analogous translation

Refrain:
Fil-i-me-oo-ree-eye-ri-ay
Fil-i-me-oo-ree-eye-ri-ay
Fil-i-me-oo-ree-eye-ri-ay
Um to work on the railroad Verses

:
Eighteen forty-one I
put on my corduroys
I put on my corduroys
To work on the railroad

Eighteen forty-two
I left the Old World for the New
Damn the luck that got me through
To work on the railroad

When we Ireland left to come here
And spend our last days in joy
Our bosses who drank strong beer
And Pat worked on the railroad

Our boss's name was Tom King
He had a shop to rob the men
A Yankee clerk with ink and Quill
To cheat on Pat at the railroad

It's called "Pat this" and "Pat that"
With no stocking and tie
And nothing but an old straw hat
While Pat works at the railroad

One Monday morning to our surprise
Just half an hour before dawn
the dirty devil went up in the air
And Pat works on the railroad

And when Pat lays down to sleep
the bugs crawl all around him
And poor Pat can't sleep a bit
While he works on the railroad

Eighteen
forty-three That's when I met Miss Biddy MacGhee
And she was a wonderful one to me Woman
While I worked on the railroad in

eighteen
forty-seven Sweet Biddy MacGhee, she went to heaven
If she left a child, she left seven
To work on the railroad in

eighteen
forty-eight I learned to drink my whiskey straight
She's a good woman and can't be reprimanded
for working on the railroad

melody

The song is sung to different melodies. In some versions, the melody of the first lines of each stanza is similar to that of the songs Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye and When Johnny Comes Marching Home . The song often gets faster and faster.

performances

Numerous musicians and singers have performed this song, including Ewan MacColl , The Weavers , The Dubliners , The Wolfe Tones , Angelo Kelly & Family , The Pogues , Ferocious Dog and The Tossers .

variants

The Dubliners' version, later adopted by The Pogues, is based on the first version of the lyrics above, but has different lyrics in some verses. It also has an alternate chorus sung in addition to or instead of "I'm weary..." but at a much faster tempo:

I was wearing corduroy britches
Digging ditches, pulling switches, dodging hitches
I was workin' on the railway.

I wore cords
I dug trenches, pulled switches, dodged bumps
I worked on the railroad.

For use as a shanty, RC Adams transmits the following text:

In eighteen hundred and sixty-three,
I came across the stormy sea.
My dungaree breeches I put on

Chorus:
To work upon the railway, the railway,
To work up-on the railway.
Oh, poor Paddy come work on the railway.

Eighteen sixty-three,
I came across the stormy sea.
I put on my dungarees,

Refrain:
To work on the railroad, the railroad,
To work on the railroad.
Oh, poor Paddy, come and work on the railroad.

web links

Individual references and notes

  1. ↑ Poor Paddy Works on the Railway Roud. In: Roud Folk Song Index. Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, accessed December 24, 2021 (English).
  2. ↑ Carl Sandburg: The American Songbag . Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York 1927.
  3. ↑ a b Norm Cohen: Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong . 2nd Edition. University of Illinois Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-252-06881-2 .
  4. ↑ George Edward Clark, Seven Years of a Sailor's Life, . Adams & Co., 1867, p. 312 .
  5. ↑ a b Robert Chamblet Adams: On Board the Rocket . D. Lothrop & Co., 1879, p. 321 .
  6. ↑ Poor Paddy Works on the Railway. In: Irish Music Daily. Retrieved January 1, 2022 (English).
  7. ↑ Poor Paddy Works on the Railway - lyrics and chords. In: Irish Music Daily. Retrieved January 1, 2022 (English).
  8. ↑ also used in reverse: I changed my trade from carrying bricks to working on the railway
  9. ↑ Paddy Works on the Railway: About the Song. In: Ballad of America. Retrieved December 24, 2021 (American English). John A Lomax , Alan Lomax : Paddy Works on the Erie . In: American Ballads and Folk Songs . Dover Publications, New York 1994, ISBN 0-486-28276-7 , chap.
     1 , p. 20 f . (American English, limited preview in Google Book Search - unaltered reprint of the original edition by The Macmillan Company, New York, 1934).
  10. ↑ also "eleven"
  11. ↑ also "drink"
  12. ↑ Ewan MacColl, Poor Paddy Works on the Railway. In: Youtube. Retrieved January 1, 2022 .
  13. ↑ The Weavers: Fi-Li-Mi-Oo-Re-Ay. In: Youtube. Retrieved December 29, 2021 (with lyrics superimposed).
  14. ↑ The Dubliners ~ Poor Paddy on the Railway. In: Youtube. Retrieved January 1, 2022 .
  15. ↑ The Wolfe Tones - Paddy On The Railway. In: Youtube. Retrieved January 1, 2022 .
  16. ↑ Paddy On The Railway - Angelo Kelly & Family. In: Youtube. Retrieved January 1, 2022 .
  17. ↑ Poor Paddy - The Pogues, 1985. In: Youtube. Retrieved December 29, 2021 .
  18. ↑ Paddy On't Railway Rowdy Version By Ferocious Dog. In: Youtube. Retrieved December 29, 2021 .
  19. ↑ The Tossers - "Poor Paddy Works on the Railway" - LIVE - Irish Fair of MN. In: Youtube. Retrieved December 29, 2021 .
  20. ↑ The Dubliners - Poor Paddy Works on the Railway Lyrics. In: songlyrics.com. Retrieved December 30, 2021 (US English).
  21. ↑ Dubliners/Pogues add refrain to the song. In: Irish Music Daily. Retrieved December 24, 2021 (American English).