COLLECTED FROM GEORGE PATTISON

PADDY WORKS ON THE RAILWAY

George Pattison
Cape de Couedie Lighthouse
Kangaroo Island
South Australia
4 Dec 1924 (and 1941)
Clive Carey SS422

In eighteen hundred and forty-six
We went with our shovels and our picks
To work upon the railway
Poor Paddy works on the railway.
O Paddy works on the railway, the railway
Poor Paddy works on the railway.

Cary notes “Time of Californian gold diggings”

Well this is not quite a sea song but an interesting find nonetheless.
Hugill makes mention of it as being sung on ships as a brake-pump shanty and that it originated with the American railway gangs of the early 19th century. He also suggests that the tune is much earlier coming from a song called The Shaver