> The Watersons > Songs > Let the Bulgine Run

Let the Bulgine Run

[ Roud 810 ; Ballad Index LoF029 ; trad.]

The Watersons sang the shanty Let the Bulgine Run in 1964 in an early live performance. This recording was included in 2004 on their 4 CD anthology Mighty River of Song. According to Stan Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas, “bulgine” is American slang for a railway engine.

Ray and Archie Fisher sang Let the Bulgine Run in the same year at a folk concert at Edinburgh Usher Hall that was released on the Waverley LP Folk Festival.

Lyrics

The Watersons sing Let the Bulgine Run

Oh! The smartest packet ye can find,
    Ah Hey! Ah Ho! Are you most done?
Is the “Margret Evans” of the Blue Cross Line!
    So! Clear the track, let the bulgine run!

Chorus (after each verse):

Timme Hey, Rig-a-jig, and a jaunting run!
Ah Hey! Ah Ho! Are you most done?
With Liza Lee all on my knee,
So! Clear the track, let the bulgine run!

Oh the prettiest sight that you can see
Is Liza Lee all on my knee

Oh Liza Lee will you be mine?
I'll dress you up in silk so fine

Oh when I get home again from sea
Young Liza Lee will marry me

Oh when I get home and stay on shore
And that to sea I'll go no more

Acknowledgements

Transcribed by Reinhard Zierke with the first verse and the chorus copied from the Digital Tradition.