“'Way Down Near Alpena”

Description

"Way down near Alpena in a far-distant lad, There's a hard-hearted, hard-spoken band." The men go on a spree. The singer describes their fights. Chorus: "Hurray, hurrah! For the fruit you can bet/Let's take of a drink, boys, for our credit's good yet."

Supplemental text

'Way Down Near Alpena
  Partial text(s)

          *** A ***

(No local title)

From Franz Rickaby, Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy
(1926), pp. 130-131. From Mr. Ava Smith of Charlevoix,
Michigan. Fragmentary text.

Way down near Alpena in a far-distant land,
There's a hard-hearted, hard-spoken band,
Called paython, forilla, They don't use much care,
And they're hard to keep track of when they got on a tear.

    Chorus
Hurray, hurrah! For the fruit you can bet.
Less taken of the drink, boys, for their credit's good yet.

(3 additional stanzas)

References

1. Beck 39, "'Way Back Near Alpena" (1 text)
2. Rickaby 34-II, (second of three "Fragments of Shanty Songs") (1 text)
3. ST Be039 (Partial)
4. Roud #6503
5. BI, Be039