“Run, Let the Bullgine Run”

Description

Shanty or railroading song. Refrain: "Run with/let the bulgine run. Way-yah oh-i-oh, Run with/let the bulgine run." Many verses repeat the "running" theme, i.e. "we'll run all day to Frisco Bay." Used as both a capstan and halyard shanty.

Supplemental text

Run, Let the Bullgine Run
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

Run with the Bullgine

From Joanna C. Colcord, Songs of American Sailormen (1938 edition),
p. 64. Source not listed.

We'll run all night till the morning
    Cho. Oh, run with the bulltine, run!
Away, ah-ha, Way ah-ha!
    Cho. Run with the bullgine, run!

          *** B ***

Run, let the Bulgine Run

From Stan Hugill, Shanties from the Seven Seas (abridged 1994 Mystic
Seaport edition), p. 257

Oh, a bulgine once wuz a-heavin',
    Ch. Run, let the bulgine run!
Oh, high ya! Oh aye yah!
    Ch. Run, let the bulgine run!

Oh, she's lovely up aloft an' she's lovely down below,
    Ch. Run, let the bulgine run!
Oh, high ya! Oh aye yah!
    Ch. Run, let the bulgine run!

(8 additional stanzas)

Notes

"Bullgine" was American Negro slang for a railway engine. - SL

(We might add that, in the early days of steamships, it was not unusual for railroad engines to be used in steamships.) - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "Roll the Cotton Down" (tune)

References

1. Colcord, p. 64, "Run With the Bullgine" (1 short text, 1 tune)
2. Hugill, pp. 342-344, "Run, Let the Bulgine Run" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 257]
3. Sharp-EFC, XIII, p. 16, "Let the Bullgine Run" (1 text, 1 tune)
4. ST Hugi342 (Full)
5. Roud #4711
6. BI, Hugi342