3/30/2023 0 Comments To work upon the railway![]() ![]() ![]() Mainly Norfolk gives a flavour of its history in folk.The earliest reference I can find is 1858, from the evidence presented at a prosecution of an unlicensed Music Hall: Morning Chronicle (London) Dec 27 1858 Identifier: streetrailwayjo201902newy (find matches) Title: The Street railway journal Year: 1884 (1880s) Authors: Subjects: Street-railroads Electric railroads Transportation Publisher: New York : McGraw Pub. Free for commercial use, no attribution required. I have at least one report of it being sung as a sailor’s work song. Download Image of The Street railway journal (1902) (14760442732). I have found articles in British newspapers showing that a song called Paddy on the Railway was being sung by amateur and professional singers from the beginning of the 1860s. It may be this which led him to being described as “an Irish stage singer”. In eighteen hundred and forty three, twas then I met sweet Biddy McGee. I can find no evidence that he visited America, but he may well have performed this song in a way which played up the stereotypes of Irish labourers which were prevalent at the time. Bad cess to the luck that brought me through, to work upon the railway. We know that JB Geoghegan came from Salford, and lived in the North of England for most of his life. I have not been able to find a copy of this… Norman Cazden in Folksongs of the Catskills suggests a song of this name “was popularised by the Irish stage singer JB Geoghegan” and that sheet music was published by Oliver Ditson in Boston 1854-56. However there is some evidence that it was originally written and/or performed by JB Geoghegan. It is often referred to as being “traditional” or written by an anonymous author. This is a song appears regularly in the repertoire of both North American and British folk singers, sometimes as a shanty. Bad cess to the luck that brought me through ![]()
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