{"id":1758,"date":"2014-02-22T13:18:23","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T17:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=1758"},"modified":"2026-03-19T06:26:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:26:05","slug":"the-farmington-canal-song","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=1758","title":{"rendered":"The Farmington Canal Song"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connecticut had its canal, too, and the Farmington Canal<\/a>, or more properly the New Haven and Northampton Canal, was built between 1825 and 1828, linking New Haven to Plainville and thence onto the Farmington River.\u00a0 It was in use up until 1835, as I understand it, before being replaced by a railway.\u00a0 This song I found in Eloise H. Linscott’s Folk Songs of Old New England<\/a><\/strong>, but I was unhappy with the metre… So I rewrote the tune as a 2\/4 and composed a chorus to round it out.<\/p>\n

According to Ms. Linscott – “This jovial song was entirely local to the town of Plainville… very likely written by some forgotten local poet and was sung while Capt. Dick Norton guided his boat from New Haven to Plainville…”\u00a0 It also seems that an Edna Whiting had a general store with the doors opening to the canal for deliveries.<\/p>\n

Jos. Morneault<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Farmington<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh! Captain Dick, he’s a gay old bird
\nYes, he is, upon my word!
\nBut that ain’t simply no excuse
\n‘Cause his whiskers\u00a0‘re filled with terbaccer juice!<\/span><\/p>\n

Chorus:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>All in a day in a river boat<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pulled by a mule or a billy goat<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I walk the deck thinking of my gal<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As we sail on the Farmington Water Canal.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Click Webster never went to school
\nBut he can drive any orn’ry mule.
\nHe chaws terbaccer, he drinks rum
\nHe can make a canal-boat hum!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chorus:<\/b><\/p>\n

The boat ties up at Whitin’s dock
\nThree times a week, ’bout four o’clock,
\nOut comes Adney and old Eb too,
\nGub FIomer, Bela, and the rest of the crew.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chorus:<\/b><\/p>\n

They pull and haul and cuss and swear,
\nUnload the cargo and then repair
\nTo the store to licker up and smoke,
\nTell tall stories, swap lies, and joke !\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chorus:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connecticut had its canal, too, and the Farmington Canal, or more properly the New Haven and Northampton Canal, was built between 1825 and 1828, linking New Haven to Plainville and thence onto the Farmington River.\u00a0 It was in use up until 1835, as I understand it, before being replaced by a railway.\u00a0 This song I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1758","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6660,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1758\/revisions\/6660"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}