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Poor Paddy on the Railway

Anonymous
Language: English


List of versions


Related Songs

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This song has been performed by numerous musicians and singers, including Ewan MacColl, Authority Zero, The Dubliners, The Tossers, The Kelly Family and The Pogues.

"Poor Paddy Works on the Railway" is a popular Irish folk and American folk song. Historically, it was often sung as a sea chanty. The song portrays an Irish worker working on a railroad.

There are numerous titles of the song including, "Pat Works on the Railway" and "Paddy on the Railway". "Paddy Works on the Erie" is another version of the song.

In The American Songbag, the writer Carl Sandburg claims that the song has been published in sheet music since the early 1850s. The earliest confirmed date of publication is from 1864 from a manuscript magazine. Ernest Bourne recorded the first version, released in 1941, by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1938.

"Paddy on the Railway" is attested as a chanty in the earliest known published work to use the word "chanty," G.E. Clark's Seven Years of a Sailor’s Life (1867). Clark recounted experiences fishing on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, in a vessel out of Provincetown, Mass. ca.1865-6. At one point, the crew is getting up the anchor in a storm, by means of a pump-style windlass. One of the chanties the men sing while performing this task is mentioned by title, "Paddy on the Railway."

The song was next mentioned as a chanty in R.C. Adams' On Board the Rocket (1879), in which the sea captain tells of experiences in American vessels out of Boston in the 1860s. Adams includes an exposition on sailors' chanties, including their melodies and sample lyrics. In this discussion he quotes "Paddy, Come Work on the Railway":

In eighteen hundred and sixty-three,
I came across the stormy sea.
My dung'ree 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.

Although these are among the earliest published references, there is other evidence to suggest that the chanty was sung as early as the 1850s. A reminiscence from the 1920s, for example, claims its use at the windlass of the following verse, aboard a packet ship out of Liverpool in 1857:

In 1847 Paddy Murphy went to Heaven
To work on the railway, the railway, the railway,
Oh, poor Paddy works upon the railway.

Several versions of this chanty were audio-recorded from the singing of veteran sailors in the 1920s-40s by folklorists like R.W. Gordon, J.M. Carpenter, and W.M. Doerflinger. Capt. Mark Page, whose sea experience spanned 1849-1879, sang it for Carpenter in the late 1920s

wikipedia.org
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
I'm weary of the railway
Poor Paddy works on the railway
In eighteen hundred and forty two
From Bartley Pool I moved to Crewe
And I found meself a job to do
Workin' on the railway

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

In eighteen hundred and forty three
I broke me shovel across me knee
And went to work with the company
In the Leeds and Selby Railway

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

In eighteen hundred and forty four
I landed on the Liverpool shore
Me belly was empty, me hands were soar
With workin' on the railway, the railway
I'm weary of the railway
Poor Paddy works on the railway
In eighteen hundred and forty five
When Daniel O'Connell he was alive
Daniel O'Connell he was alive
And workin' on the railway

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

In eighteen hundred and forty six
I changed me trade from carryin' bricks
Changed me trade from carryin' bricks
To work upon the railway

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

In eighteen hundred and forty seven
Poor Paddy was thinkin' of goin' to heaven
Poor Paddy was thinkin' of goin' to heaven
To work upon the railway, the railway
I'm weary of the railway
Poor Paddy works on the railway

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

Contributed by DoNQuijote82 - 2013/12/10 - 12:37



Language: Italian

traduzione in italiano di Federico Cirigliano da The Italian rover
Nel 1841
Misi i pantaloni di velluto
Misi i miei pantaloni di velluto
Per lavorare sulla ferrovia
Sono stanco della ferrovia
Il povero Paddy lavora sulla ferrovia

Nel 1842
Mi spostai da Hartlepool a Crewe
Trovai un lavoro
Lavorando sulla ferrovia

Indossavo pantaloni di velluto
Scavavo fossati, premevo interruttori
Schivavo pece e catrame
Lavorando sulla ferrovia

Nel 1843
Ruppi il badile sul mio ginocchio
Andai a lavorare per la compagnia
Sulla linea da Leeds a Selby

Indossavo pantaloni di velluto
Scavavo fossati, premevo interruttori
Schivavo pece e catrame
Lavorando sulla ferrovia

Nel 1844
Sbarcai sulla costa di Liverpool
Il mio stomaco era vuoto e le mie mani consumate
Lavorando sulla ferrovia
Sono disgustato dalla ferrovia
Il povero Paddy lavora sulla ferrovia

Nel 1845
Quando Danny O'Connell era vivo
Quando Danny O'Connell era vivo
E lavorava sulla ferrovia

Indossavo pantaloni di velluto
Scavavo fossati, premevo interruttori
Schivavo pece e catrame
Lavorando sulla ferrovia

Nel 1846
Cambiai mestiere trasportando mattoni
Cambiai mestiere trasportando mattoni
Per lavorare sulla ferrovia

Indossavo pantaloni di velluto
Scavavo fossati, premevo interruttori
Schivavo pece e catrame
Lavorando sulla ferrovia

Nel 1847
Il povero Paddy pensava di andare in Paradiso
Il vecchio pensava di andare in Paradiso
Per lavorare sulla ferrovia
Sono stanco morto della ferrovia
Il povero Paddy lavora sulla ferrovia

Indossavo pantaloni di velluto
Scavavo fossati, premevo interruttori
Schivavo pece e catrame
Lavorando sulla ferrovia

Contributed by dq82 - 2015/6/19 - 19:42




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