Bullhead Boat, The

DESCRIPTION: Singer, a mule-driver, gets work steering a canal boat. One pilot is killed by a low bridge. The singer spies a low bridge, but fails to warn the (drunken) captain, as he's busy tumbling end over end. He warns listeners never to drive a bullhead boat.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1986 (recording, Art Thieme)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer, a mule-driver, gets work steering a canal boat; it's miserable work, and the captain drinks. One pilot is killed by a low bridge. One day the singer spies a low bridge coming, but fails to warn the (drunken) captain, as he's busy tumbling end over end. He warns listeners never to drive a bullhead boat, but rather spend their time on a line barge; "The bridge you won't be hatin'/And you'll live till Judgement Day"
KEYWORDS: warning death canal ship work worker pilot
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 242-243, "Boatin' on a Bull-Head" (1 text)
DT, BULLHEAD
Roud #6590
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "The Bullhead Boat" (on Thieme04)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Erie Canal" (subject)
NOTES [61 words]: According to Art Thieme, a bullhead boat was an unusually tall canal boat. Since most canal boats on America's early waterways were built low (e.g. the Erie Canal carried mostly barges), bridges over the canal were often quite low. This meant that serving on a bullhead boat could be quite dangerous.
For more on low bridges, see the notes to "The Erie Canal." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: RcTBulBo

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