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John Gilbert Is The Boat

from Heading For Home by Peggy Seeger

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JOHN GILBERT IS THE BOAT

traditional USA

Peggy learned this song in 1954 from Tony Saletan, the Massachusetts singer. Saletan had worked at the Shaker Village Work Camp in New Lebanon, NY, and Pittsfield, MA. In his search for songs for a mimeographed camp songbook, "Songs of Work", he had previously combed the collections of Harvard's Widener Library, where he discovered such gems as this song and "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore." His source for "John Gilbert" was either of two books by Mary Wheeler: Roustabout Songs: A Collection of Ohio River Valley Songs (NY: Remick Music Corp., 1939) and Steamboatin' Days: Folk Songs of the River Packet Era (Baton Rouge: La. State Univ. Press, 1944). In the latter, Wheeler states: "The John Gilbert ran from Cincinnati to Florence, Alabama. She was built in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1881, and was named for Captain John Gilbert, of Evansville, Indiana, president of the Ohio and Tennessee River Packet Company. A certain section through which the boat passed was known for its trade in peanuts. The John Gilbert was loaded with this product by the thousand pounds and the vessel was nicknamed by the rousters, 'The Peanut John'."

Peggy recalls singing "John Gilbert" as the theme song for a late 1950s English television serial production of Tom Sawyer. It is transcribed in her 1964 Oak Publications songbook (Folksongs of Peggy Seeger, edited by Ethel Raim). From thence it appeared in Sing Out!, vol. 15, no. 2, Sept. 1965. Other recordings based on Wheeler's transcription were made by Conrad Thibault (1946), Robin Christenson (1962), and Bertha Wenzel (1970s). Finally, the vessel itself inspired Claude Marion Almand to compose "John Gilbert: A Steamboat Overture" for the Louisville Philharmonic Society; it was recorded by the Louisville Orchestra in 1960. (Joe Hickerson, August 2003)

lyrics

CHORUS: John Gilbert is the boat
Di-dee O, Di-dee O,
John Gilbert is the boat,
Di-dee O,
Runnin' in the Cincinnati trade.

You see that boat a -comin'
Comin' round the bend.
Loaded down with cotton
She's comin' in again. (chorus)

She run peanuts and cotton
And then she run so many,
Her men they run from her
Never get a penny. (chorus)

You see that boat a-comin',
Comin' round the bend,
Loaded to the bottom
With Louisiana men. (chorus)

credits

from Heading For Home, released October 7, 2003

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Peggy Seeger Oxford, UK

Peggy is one of the most influential folk singers on either side of the Atlantic. She is Pete Seeger’s half-sister and Ruth Crawford Seeger’s daughter; her first life partner was the English songwriter Ewan MacColl, who wrote First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for her. She has made more than 22 solo recordings to date. Please check ewanmaccoll.bandcamp.com for other albums featuring Peggy. ... more

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