Page "Folklore of the United States" Paragraph 49

*" Poor Paddy Works on the Railway " is a popular Irish and American folk song.

Historically, it was often sung as a sea chanty.

The song portrays an Irish worker working on a railroad.

There are numerous titles of the song including, " Pat Works on the Railway " and " Paddy on the Railway ".

" Paddy Works on the Erie " is another version of the song.

" Paddy on the Railway " is attested as a chanty in the earliest known published work to use the word " chanty ," G. E.

Clark's Seven Years of a Sailor ’ s Life ( 1867 ).

Clark recounted experiences fishing on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, in a vessel out of Provincetown, Mass.

ca. 1865-6.

At one point, the crew is getting up the anchor in a storm, by means of a pump-style windlass.

One of the chanties the men sing while performing this task is mentioned by title, " Paddy on the Railway.