The origins of this song seem to be held around the 1810’s and 20’s, according to several sources, and gained popularity with the years leading up to the American Civil War.\u00a0 The \u201cblack sheep\u201d are in fact slaves being run through the British embargo to halt the trade, \u201cblack fever\u201d being the hunger of the slave states for the trade.\u00a0 This was an age of \u201cpacket rat\u201d sailors working under tyrant masters running for the quick money\u2026 aboard these \u201chell ships\u201d the master would have the men labour to the point where the mast and yards constantly appeared polished and new, painted white and similar colours (rather than the darker colours seen on most other vessels); a common indication of a Yankee packet \u2013 marks of terrible discipline.\u00a0 They would be running to the Guinea coast, Africa, for their cargo.<\/p>\n
This version I learned from the singing of the Clancy Brothers.<\/p>\n
Jos. Morneault<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A<\/strong> F#m\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A<\/strong> .\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0E\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 E<\/strong> E\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0B\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0E<\/strong> <\/p>\n A Yankee ship came down the river. Blow, boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong> >>>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now Blow me boys, and blow forever!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blow, boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Well what do ya think that had for cargo?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Blow, boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong> Now what do ya think they had for dinner?\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Blow, boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong>>>>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now Blow me boys, and blow forever!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blow, boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n Now yonder comes the Arrow packet.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Blow, boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong> Well who do ya think was the skipper of her?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blow, boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong> >>>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now Blow me boys, and blow forever!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blow, boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The origins of this song seem to be held around the 1810’s and 20’s, according to several sources, and gained popularity with the years leading up to the American Civil War.\u00a0 The \u201cblack sheep\u201d are in fact slaves being run through the British embargo to halt the trade, \u201cblack fever\u201d being the hunger of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5268","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5268","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=5268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5269,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5268\/revisions\/5269"}],"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=5268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOh, was you ever on the Congo River?<\/p>\n
\nBlow, boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nBlack Fever makes the white man shiver!<\/p>\n
\nBlow me bully boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nHer masts and yards, they shun like silver.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blow me bully boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well blow me down that Congo River!\u00a0 Blow me bully boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nWhy black sheep that had run the embargo!\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blow me bully boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nWell a monkey\u2019s heart and a donkey\u2019s liver!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blow me bully boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>Well blow me down that Congo River!\u00a0 Blow me bully boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nShe fires her guns. Can ya hear the racket!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blow me bully boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nWhy Bully Hayes, that sailor robber! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blow me bully boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well blow me down that Congo River!\u00a0 Blow me bully boys, blow!<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n