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ROLL THE COTTON DOWN Lead: Richard

A very popular tops'l and t'gallant halyard shanty that was also used at the capstan. Our version, having a grand chorus, is a capstan chantey.

LYRICS:

Oh, away down south where I was born
Chorus: Oh! Roll the cotton down
Oh, away down south around Cape Horn
Chorus: Oh! Roll the cotton down

Grand Chorus:
Roll the cotton. Roll the cotton Moses!
Roll the cotton. We'll roll the cotton down!

Away down south around Cape Horn
You'd wish to God you' never been born

Oh, was you ever in Mobile Bay
Where they load cotton all the day

Oh, a dollar a day is hoosier's pay
So bring yer screws and hooks this way

We'll floor her off from fore to aft
Five thousand bales for this 'ere craft

Oh, in Alabama where I was born
Oh, a-screwin' cotton of a summer's morn

Oh, we're bound away to Mobile Bay
Oh, we're bound away at the break of day

Oh, Frisco town is far behind
And the girls down south are free and kind

Oh, around Cape Horn we're bound to go
Oh, around Cape Stiff in the ice and snow

Oh, I wish I had a tot of rum
Oh, I'll sing you a song if you give me some

When work is done at the end of day
Oh, it's then you'll hear the banjo play

Oh, Mobile Bay's no place for me
So I'll pack my bags and go to sea

NOTES:

Versions of this shanty appear in many collections. According to the late Stan Hugill Roll the Cotton Down was a very popular halyard shanty. At tops'l halyards it was a hardy perennial, although it suited t'gallant halyards even more so, being of a fairly lively march time. The version we sing, having a grand chorus, was used at the capstan. Hugill gives a capstan version that he obtained from Al Macmillan, Master Mariner and, according to King, during the First World War, the refrain was often sung – 'Roll the Kaiser down!'

Hugill, in his Shanties from the Seven Seas, gives six different versions of this shanty: (a) an African-American version, (b) a cotton-stowers' version, (c) a deep-sea version, (d) a Blackball version, (e) a Paddy and the Railway version, and (f) a Long Time Ago version. The hoosier version probably stemmed from the African-American one. The white cotton-stowers used it for screwing the huge bales of cotton into place in the dark holds of the cotton droghers, heaving at the levers of the screws on the same words of the refrains as sailors would at the halyards. Once the cotton season was over these men would ship 'foreign', taking these 'cotton chants' with them for use at halyard and capstan, hence a new infusion of shanty blood – African-American blood – entering into the field, which perhaps up till then had been dominated mainly by Irish-shaped work songs.

Roll the Cotton Down (as a halyard shanty) was one of the most popular German shanties. Hugill says " … I've heard and taken part in the singing of this hauling song many times aboard a German barque, and we used both the 'Oh, come, a beer for me' and 'Oh, roll the cotton down' refrains indiscriminately."

DE RUNER VON HAMBORG or ROLL THE COTTON DOWN
(in the Hamburg sailors' dialect)

De see geiht hoch, de Wind de blast,
Chorus: Oh, Kohm un beer for mi!
Janmaat, de fleit, is nie verbaast,
Chorus: Oh, Kohm un beer for mi!

Reise aus Quartier un all' an Deck,
De Ool de fiert de Marssails weg

Un wenn wi nu na Hamborg kaamt
Denn süüt mann all' de Sneiders staan

Elias röppt, dor bust du ja
Ik see di nich tom eersten Mal

Du bruukst gewiss een' neen Hoot
Ik heff weck von de neeste Mood

Un ok gewiss een Taschendook
Un'n neen Slips, den bruukst du ok

Un ook een beeten Seep un Tweern
Un denn one pound to'n Amuseern

Wi is dat een lütjen Kööm
Un een Zigarr, dat smeckt doch schöön

Afmustert ward, dat is mol klor
Wie gaat von Bord un schreet Hurroh

Another German version of Roll the Cotton Down can be found in Knurrhaln, Seemannslieder und Shanties, Musikverlag Hans Sikorski, Hamborg.

ROLL THE COTTON DOWN

No den Süden to, dor foort een Shipp
Chorus: Oh, roll the cotton down
Verprovianteert mit schlauem Kniff
Chorus: Oh, roll the cotton down

Wat harr dat Schipp för'n proviant
Dre Arften, dre Bonen, tein Fotenvull Sand

Doch ut de Slappkist dor kunnst all'ns hemm
De Ool dat wör een business-man

Un morgens Klock söss kööm de Ool and Deck
Un spee denn eerst mol öber dat Heck

Oh, Stüürmann, wat sünd de Lüüd för ne Blass
Laat se eerst mal hentrümmen de Raas

De Stüürmann de gung in vuller Wut
Nat dat Logis un halt de Lüüd herut

'Turn to' wi wült hentrümmen de Raas
Doch Janmootg denkt, du kannst uns mol

Un sund wi in Hamborg man eerst vermoort
Gaat wi von Bord ungeevt 'three boos.'