Shankar Vedantam

I asked Steve to choose a song and explain how Riley had classified it.

So he opened volume three, ran his finger down pages filled with typewritten entries.

This is Holloway Joe, which is a sea shanty.

And it says, this is a short drag or short haul shanty.

It was taken from British sailors and Americanized, which means...

Political references were eliminated from the text.

American sailors preferred to concentrate on girls.

For example, the British sailors sang, Louis was the king of France before the revolution, but Louis got his head cut off, which spoiled his constitution.

American sailors had more important things to sing about and changed the words to, once I had a German girl, but she was fat and lazy.

Then I had an Irish girl, she damn near drove me crazy.

The shanty dates back to around the second half of the 18th century, though only in England.

In the USA, it dates back to the years following the War of 1812.

For other English and American versions, see the works listed below.

And then he gives a long list of books in which this song appears.

And he actually gives you the music for the song as well?

For many of the songs he does, yes, he does have music for Holloway Joe as well.

How does the tune of this song go?

Do you remember it?

When I was a little boy, it's so my mother told me Way Holloway, Holloway Joe That if I didn't kiss the girls, my lips would all grow moldy Way Holloway, Holloway Joe I have to say the impressive thing is you closed the book as you did that.

This was all in your head too.