Annotation:Boatsman (2)
X:1 T:Boatsman [2] T:Boatman T:Boatman's Dance [1] N:From the playing of fiddler Melvin Wine (1909-2003, Copen, Braxton County, N:central West Virginia) on a Berea College performance video. N:Wine plays with a pronounced backbeat, often with double stops. M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel Q:"Quick" D:Marimac AHS2 (cass.), Melvin Wine - "Hannah at the Springhouse" (1989) D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/content/boatsman D:https://soundarchives.berea.edu/items/show/7364 Z:Andrew Kuntz K:A ((3efg|a2)fg a2af|beaa f2((3efg|a)gaf ecec|BB[Be]B A2((3efg| a2) aa a2 af|beaa f2((3efg|a)gaf ecec|BB-BA A2|| ag|fdfd A-cea|f(d[df])f e2aa|fdfd (Ac)ec|BBBB A2ag| fd[df]d A-cea|f(d[df])f e2ag|fd[df]d (Ac)ec|BBBA A2|| |:A2-|AA[ce]A B2 c2|J[e3e3] [ee] [ee]fed|cdec BABB |J[A3A3][AA][A2A2][A2A2]-| [AA2]A[ce]A B2c2|J[e3e3] [ee] [e2e2]aa|fdfd A-cec|BBBA A2:||
BOATSMAN [2]. AKA - "Boatman." AKA and see "Banjo Quadrilles: No.1 (The)," "Sailing Down the River on the O-hi-o," "Ohio River," "Boatman's Dance (1)." American; Air and Reel. USA; W.Va., Pa. A Major (Krassen, Phillips): D Major (Johnson): G Major (Spadaro). Standard (Melvin Wine), AEae (Ed Haley) or DDad (Marcus Martin) tuning (fiddle). AABBC: ABCC (Johnson): AABBCC (Milliner & Koken, Phillips). The fiddle tune is derived from the minstrel piece credited to Dan Emmett called "Boatmen Dance (De)" or "Dance Boatman Dance (1);" the tune (words below), according to some accounts, was first heard in performance in Boston in 1843. Emmett published it in that year, advertising it as "An Original Banjo Melody." The tune appears in many American and even English songsters of the 19th and early 20th centuries; Scott (1926) prints it as "Sung by the Ethiopian Serenaders." Both Nathan and Cauthen (1990) assert the melody was in folk currency before the minstrel era, and that it made its way back to folk currency in the fiddle tradition after popularization by minstrels; this is probably true, for it was in print (as "Ohio River") in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume IV (Baltimore, 1839) -- associated with Ohio River boatmen -- before it was played on the minstrel stage. See also "Boatman's Dance (1)" for version of the tune in the minstrel and morris dance tradition and "Little Rabbit" and "Little Bobby" for a cognate melodies in Old-Time tradition.
The Boatsman dance, the Boatsman sing,
The Boatsman do most everything.
And when the Boatsman get on shore,
Spends all his money and he work for more.
Cho:
Dance, Boatsman, dance. Dance, Boatsman, dance,
Stay out all night, 'til the broad daylight,
Coming home with the girls in the morning.
Hey, ho, the boatmen row,
Sail down the river on the Ohio.
Hey, ho, the Boatmen row,
Sail down the river on the Ohio.
Well, I never saw a pretty girl in my life,
But what she'd been some boatsman's wife.
When the Boatsman blows his horn,
Look out, men, your daughter's gone! [Johnson]
The boatmen whistle and the boatmen sing,
And the boatmen tell me some good thing.
Way, oh, boatmen row,
Sailing down the river on the O-hi-o. ... [Bayard]
