“The Titanic (X) ("Down With the Old Canoe") (Titanic #10)”

Description

The Titanic sets sail, but sinks. The singers then draw morals, including that the hand of Man is no match for God Chorus: "Sailing out to win her fame, the Titanic was her name... Many passengers and her crew went down with that old canoe"

Supplemental text

Titanic (X), The ("Down With the Old Canoe") (Titanic #10)
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

As recorded by the Dixon Brothers (Howard and Dorsey),
Bluebird B7449, 1938. Transcribed by Robert B. Waltz.

It was twenty-five years ago when the the wings of death came low.
And spread out on the ocean far and wide.
A great ship sailed away with her passengers so gay
To never, never reach the other side.

CHORUS:
  Sailing out to winter pain, the Titanic was her name
  When she had sailed five hundred miles from shore,
  Many passengers and her crew went down with that old canoe
  They all went down to never rise no more.

This great ship was built by man, that is why she could not stand.
She could not sink was the cry from one and all.
But an iceberg ripped her side and it cut down all her pride.
They found the hand of God was in it all.

Your Titanic sails today; on life's sea you're far away
For Jesus Christ can take you safely through.
Just obey his great command, over there you'll take the land.
You'll never go down with that old canoe.

When you think that you are wise, then you need not be surprised.
If the hand of God should stop you on life's sea.
If you go on in your sin, you will find out in the end
That you are just as foolish as can be.

Long description

The Titanic sets sail amid gaiety and laughter, but sinks. The singers then draw morals, including that the hand of Man is no match for God, and that one should obey the commands of Jesus. Chorus: "Sailing out to winter pain, the Titanic was her name/When she had sailed 500 miles from shore/Many passengers and her crew went down with that old canoe/They all went down to never ride no more"

Notes

This can be distinguished from the other Titanic songs by the presence of the phrase, "Down with the old canoe," and by the proportion of narrative (1 verse) to moralizing (3 verses). - PJS

In light of the song's ludicrously un-Christian attempt at theology, it should probably be noted that, at the time the _Titanic_ sank, the Germans already had an even bigger liner under construction. The _Imperator_ had a number of design flaws, but she never hit any icebergs, and was retired, quite un-sunk, in 1938 (by which time she had become the British _Berengeria_).

Lyle Lofgren thinks this is a rewrite of the Cofer Brothers song "The Titanic Was Her Name." There is some similarity in the chorus, but the rewriting is substantial; I'd be inclined to regard that as just an instance of a floating verse. But there seems no doubt that Dorsey Dixon wrote the song, because it is dated 25 years after the _Titanic_ sank, i.e. around 1937. Which is right about the time the Dixon Brothers recorded the song.

For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW

Historical references

• April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.

Cross references

• cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)

Recordings

• Dixon Brothers, "Down With the Old Canoe" (Bluebird B-7449, 1938; on Dixons01, Dixons04)

References

1. ADDITIONAL: Steven Biel, _A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster_, 1996, pp. 98-99 (in the Norton edition), "Down with the Old Canoe" (1 text)
2. ST RcTDWtOC (Full)
3. BI, RcTDWtOC