LYR ADD: Shores of Botany Bay

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: SHORES OF BOTANY BAY
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 28 Feb 99 - 05:06 PM

This is the song The Shores of Botany Bay, which was collected from H.P.C. 'Duke' Tritton in the mid 1950s. The original had 2 verses and a chorus and, sometime later, 'Duke' wrote his own third verse to round it out. The original was published in Singabout magazine vol. 2, #3, p3 - December 1957. The additional verse crept into use within the Bush Music Club and was published in Singabout magazine vol. 3, #2, p17, 1967. A composite version is in my book Singabout - Selected Reprints, Ed. Bob Bolton, Bush Music Club, Sydney, 1985.

I presume that the Australian song was taken back to UK in the 1960s, by performers such as Martyn Wyndham-Read, and passed on by something between folk process and osmosis until it took up residence with Irish groups who recognised its Irish ancestry. An intriguing examle of the same process was seen in Mudcat last year in a thread enquiring after a song called Cock of the North. This was not the well-known Scots song but a folk-processed version of Australian Poet Dorothy Hewitt's The Sailor Home from the Sea (starting with the words "Oh, cock of the morning, with a dream in his hand ...") which Martyn always sang as "Oh, cock of the north ..." and we saw some incredible folk-processed changes as more versions were posted, full of substitutions for the Australian geographical and local references that were incomprehensible on the other side of the globe!

When The Shores of Botany Bay was published, 'Duke' was quoted as saying that he had heard a song of the same tune, called The Shores of Amerikay. Neither the tune nor the song structure have any resemblance to the various versions I know of The Shores of Amerikay so I must assume that 'Duke' had in mind some other song or a version I have not heard. It does strike me that there are some resemblances to Irish(?) music Hall songs of the American Gold Rush era such as Muirsheen Durkin and perhaps it was one these that led to this song.

I have provided the original words from Singabout (as against those that I remembered when I typed them to this thread on Friday ... perhaps another study in the folk process)

The Shores of Botany Bay

First 2 verses learned from 'Duke' Tritton, who later wrote the third verse to round out the song.

Oh, I'm on my way down to the quay, where a big ship now does lay,
For to take a gang of navvies, I was told to engage;
But I thought I would call in for a while, before I went away,
For to take a trip, in an emigrant ship, to the shores of Botany Bay.
Chorus: Farewell to your bricks and mortar, farewell to your dirty lime.
Farewell to your gangway and gang planks and to hell with your overtime;
For the good ship Rag o' Muffin, is a-lying at the quay,
For to take old Pat, with a shovel on his back, to the shores of Botany Bay.

For the boss came up this morning, and he said, "Well,Pat, hello!
If you do not mix that mortar fast, be sure you'll have to go".
Of course he did insult me, I demanded all my pay,
And I told him straight, I was going to emigrate, to the shores of Botany Bay.
Chorus: Farewell to your bricks and mortar ...

And when I reach Australia, I'll go and look for gold,
Sure there's plenty there for the digging, or so I have been told.
Or I might go back into my trade, eight hundred bricks I'll lay,
In an eight hour day, for eight bob pay, on the shores of Botany Bay.
Chorus: Farewell to your bricks and mortar ...

MIDI/ABC version of tune:

MIDI file: SHORESBB.MID

Timebase: 240

TimeSig: 2/4 24 8
Tempo: 100 (600000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0360 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0048 0 62 064 0012 1 62 080 0048 0 62 064 0012 1 74 080 0096 0 74 064 0024 1 74 080 0096 0 74 064 0024 1 74 080 0096 0 74 064 0024 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 69 080 0288 0 69 064 0072 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 67 080 0192 0 67 064 0048 1 67 080 0144 0 67 064 0036 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0288 0 67 064 0072 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 60 080 0096 0 60 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0048 0 62 064 0012 1 62 080 0048 0 62 064 0012 1 74 080 0096 0 74 064 0024 1 74 080 0096 0 74 064 0024 1 72 080 0096 0 72 064 0024 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0288 0 67 064 0072 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 62 080 0096 0 62 064 0024 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0048 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0096 0 69 064 0024 1 67 080 0096 0 67 064 0024 1 65 080 0096 0 65 064 0024 1 64 080 0096 0 64 064 0024 1 62 080 0288 0 62 064
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X:1
T:
M:2/4
Q:1/4=100
K:C
C8|C2A2A2G2|F2D2D2DD|d2d2d2c2|A6D2|D2A2A2G2|
F2E2D2C2|G4G3A|G6C2|C2A2A2G2|F2D2D2DD|d2d2c2A2|
G6AA|A2D2D2AA|A2D2D2AA|A2G2F2E2|D5||

Regards,

Bob Bolton