I Went On Board the Ida

DESCRIPTION: "I went on board the Ida, I did not go to stay, I put my hand on the Yalla gal dress And the captain fainted away." "Champion Charles is my name"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1972 (Elder-FolkSongAndFolkLifeInCharlotteville)
KEYWORDS: courting clothes fishing ship shanty Black(s)
FOUND IN: West Indies(Tobago)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Elder-FolkSongAndFolkLifeInCharlotteville, p. 58, "I Went On Board the Ida" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [114 words]: Elder-Charlottville: "One of the commoner shanties heard among Tobago fishermen."
The verse structure -- but not the tune -- follows "Ain't Gonna Rain No More." Digital Tradition has "Old Napper Rise-1846 -The song is known as a minstrel song -- I went down to New Orleans / Didn't go to stay / Laid my head in a yellow gals lap / Yellow gal fainted away" at http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=16527 accessed June 26, 2015 (cf. Grandpa Jones, "Going Down Town" (King 772 B, 1949) for a more PC version showing that the lines survived in the U.S. as well: "Well, I ain't got long to stay / I ain't got long to stay / Laid my head in a pretty gal's lap / Pretty gal vanished away"). - BS
Last updated in version 4.0
File: ElCh058

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