Haul Away Joe

Most mornings we meet on the stage of the Bank of America Pavilion to hear a little history about how Boston Harbor got to be so clean. So clean we can, and do, swim in it. But the most fun we have in the morning before we get on the boat is to learn a sea chantey. These are the work songs the sailors sang on board the old sailing ships, many of which were built right across the harbor from us in E. Boston. This is one of my favorites. Anyone named Joe (and some people whose name I change to Joe) comes up front to sing this with me.

The name of the song is Haul Away Joe. It was most often used as a hauling chantey, mainly for hauling on the lines to raise the sails on the old sailing ships. The most famous shipbuilder, Donald MacKay, is celebrated with a monument on Castle Island (a miniature Bunker Hill type obelisk) with every ship he ever built carved into the sides. Go check it out.

When I was a little boy, or so my mother told me,

Way haul away, we'll haul away JOE!!

That if I didn't kiss the girls my lips would grow all moldy,

Way haul away, we'll haul away JOE!!

Once I loved an East Boston girl but she was slow and lazy

Way haul away, we'll haul away JOE!!

But then I met a Dorchester girl she really drives me crazy

Way haul away, we'll haul away JOE!!

Way haul away, we'll away for better weather,

Way haul away, we'll haul away JOE!!

Way haul away, we'll haul away together,

Way haul away, we'll haul away JOE!!

-David