{"id":975,"date":"2013-08-29T08:30:11","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T12:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=975"},"modified":"2020-08-13T13:14:50","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T17:14:50","slug":"bully-in-the-alley","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=975","title":{"rendered":"Bully in the Alley"},"content":{"rendered":"

A really popular chantey although sung more like a forebitter or a music hall song by most performers.\u00a0 Here I’ll give a standard approach to chords (the same for verse and chorus) for this song because it has been requested, but it is traditionally sung a capella.\u00a0 Both Tim and Rick alternatively perform this song with their own variations, as is traditional.\u00a0 It’s origins are somewhat obscure due to various theories about the lyrics, sometimes placing the song as a Caribbean island source, although it has been shown by some musicologists to have migrated TO the Caribbean rather than the other way around.\u00a0 “So help me Bob, I’m Bully in the Alley” is the one most often misinterpreted with a wide range of explanations… However, some search into 19th century vernacular usage of American English would sometimes show the word “bully” to be one of many<\/em><\/span> slang words to equal “drunk” or “shitfaced”, but in a “good” fashion, such as “I’m feeling good”, or, “I’m feeling no pain”; it has been pointed out to me that Teddy Roosevelt used “Bully!” to mean “splendid!” and that Mark Twain had written “That’s Bully” to mean “that’s fine” or “top notch”, and “I’m bully” to mean… Well, you get the point.\u00a0 Of all the explanations in this regard I’ve found, the best worded version, in my opinion, is from Hank Cramer<\/a>, in which, for this song, he wrote – “While ashore, sailors\u00a0did like to go out drinking, usually in groups. And they may not all have\u00a0the same capacity for drink, leading to one sailor becoming incapacitated, or “bully”, while his mates were still willing to party on. Until they were\u00a0all ready to go back to the ship, they would have to stash their mate someplace\u00a0safe and out of the way — like the alley.<\/em>” \u00a0 Here is a portion of an article published in 1865 showing “bully” in context…<\/p>\n

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

“Shinbone Al”, on the other hand, was the common reference to Shinbone Alley <\/a>in New York… Whether it was this<\/em> alley or in another place, I cannot tell – [there’s even a “Shinebone Alley” between two rows of the older buildings in Sailor’s Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY].\u00a0 It is<\/em> interesting, though, that it runs near and along such other sea-song-mentioned streets such as Bleecker Street, Bond Street, and Great Jones Street.\u00a0 Click ‘ere for a map – see #11<\/a><\/p>\n

\"19th<\/a>

19th century photo of Shinebone Al(ley)<\/p><\/div>\n

Jos. Morneault<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chorus:<\/strong>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 G<\/strong>
\nSo help me Bob I’m bully in the alley.<\/em><\/strong>
\nC\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 G\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0D<\/strong>
\n Way, (way!) hey, (hey!) bully in the alley.<\/em><\/strong>
\nG<\/strong>
\n Help me Bob I’m bully in the alley.<\/em><\/strong>
\nC\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0D\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 G<\/strong>
\n Bully down in Shinbone Al.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sally is a girl that I loved dearly,
\nWay, hey, bully in the alley<\/em><\/strong>
\nSally is a girl that I spliced nearly,
\nBully down in Shinbone Al<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chorus:<\/p>\n

For seven long years I courted Sally,
\nAll she did was dilly-dally,<\/p>\n

Chorus:<\/p>\n

I left Sal and I went a-sailing.
\nSigned on a big ship, I went a-whaling,<\/p>\n

Chorus:<\/p>\n

I’ll leave Sal and\u00a0I’ll become a sailor,
\nI’ll leave Sal and ship aboard a whaler.<\/p>\n

Chorus:<\/p>\n

I’ll come back and\u00a0I’ll marry Sally,
\nWe’ll have kids and count them by the tally.<\/p>\n

Chorus:<\/p>\n

{If I ever get back to her I’ll marry little Sally.
\nHave six kids and live in Shinbone Alley}<\/p>\n

Chorus:<\/p>\n

{I thought I heard the old man saying,
\nOne more chorus then we’re belaying,}<\/p>\n

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

A really popular chantey although sung more like a forebitter or a music hall song by most performers.\u00a0 Here I’ll give a standard approach to chords (the same for verse and chorus) for this song because it has been requested, but it is traditionally sung a capella.\u00a0 Both Tim and Rick alternatively perform this song […]<\/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-975","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/975","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=975"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5492,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/975\/revisions\/5492"}],"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=975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}