(Roll the Old Chariot Along)
The sea shanty ‘Roll the Old Chariot along’ (Roud 3632) has had a very interesting life.
As far as we know it started over 200 years ago at the beginning of the 19th Century.
Having several transitions over many genres (gospel, plantation song, sea shanty, folk,
choral, rock, steampunk etc.) it is now known and sung all over the world and much loved by
people in many countries from North America to New Zealand and from Norway to Brazil
and Africa. It is in the repertoire of every shanty singer on the planet!
It has been used on land to ‘spread the word of God’, for corn-shucking (removing the husks
from corn cobs for winter storage), log-rolling (driving logs down river to sawmills), as a
plantation song, as a protest song by the ‘Wobblies’ (members of the Industrial Workers of
the World), at student baseball games and as a Salvation Army hymn.
At sea it was mostly used for work at the braces - to swivel the yards around the mast when
‘tacking’ or ‘going about’. This was as a ‘walkaway’, ‘runaway’ or ‘stamp ‘n’ go’ shanty.
The Bristol shantyman Erik Ilott (who I recorded an album ‘The Shantymen’ with shortly
before his death in 1988) said it was also used at sea for ‘careening’ the ship's bottom to rid
it of barnacles etc. This was done using a ‘devil’s scrubbing brush’ - two wooden planks with
long nails driven through and hinged together with rope - dragged from fore to aft and side to
side under the ship’s hull.
The most commonly used set of words, as given in Stan Hugill’s book ‘Shanties from the
Seven Seas’ begins with: ‘ Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm’ which is
taken to mean rum (although it could also mean Nelson’s spirit or courage).
Sailors mistakenly thought that Admiral Nelson’s body had been brought home on HMS
Victory after the Battle of Trafalgar (October 21st 1805) in a cask of rum to preserve him.
Actually he was placed, head-down, in a cask of brandy mixed with camphor and myrrh.
It was rumoured that the crew drank this by ‘siphoning’ it off on the way.
The shanty verses continue with other desires of the 19th Century British sailor:
‘A plate of Irish stew’, ‘A nice fat cook’, ‘A roll in the clover’, ‘A long spell in gaol’, ‘ A nice
watch below’, ‘A night on shore’ and ‘A night with the girls’ all - ‘wouldn’t do us any harm’.
This shanty, like most sea shanties, would seem to be of black origin - probably being picked
up in the cotton ports of America from plantation workers and stevedores or ‘cotton
hoosiers’. It may have started life as such in the early 19th Century.
However, its first appearance in print is in Northern England and the tune normally sung is
that of a Scottish march or reel. The American shanty collector William Main Doerflinger (the
only collector other than Stan Hugill to have included it in their collection) thought that the
tune was a variant of another stamp ‘n’ go shanty ‘The Drunken Sailor’ to which it bears
some similarity in construction - three lines repeated followed by a refrain then a chorus.
We’ll follow the voyage of the song through the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries and observe
its development.
1810 The first mention of the song is in the journals of William Clowes (1780 -1851) who
was a co-founder (with Hugh Bourne) of the Primitive Methodist Connexion (after both had
been expelled from the Wesleyan Church). He was born in Staffordshire and preached in
Hull, Leeds and Derbyshire. His journals were published in 1844 in London.
1836 Richard Henry Dana mentions the shanty in his book ‘Two Years Before the Mast’.
This is an account of his voyages aboard the American brigs ‘Pilgrim’ and ‘Alert’ which
began in 1834. He recalls the singing of about a dozen shanties by the crew - ‘a mixture of
English, ‘Scotch’, German, French, African, South Sea Islanders plus a few Boston and
Cape Cod boys’. Most of the other shanties have been lost apart from this one, ‘Cheerly
Men’ and ‘Round the Corner’. This is very early for sea shanties to be heard at sea as the
Wars involving the UK, USA, France and Spain had only ended 20 years before so little or
no trade at sea had been happening for decades.
No shanties have been found from the 18th Century although a handful existed before that.
1874 Thomas P. Fenner includes the song in his book ‘Cabin and Plantation Songs as sung
by the Hampton Students’ published in New York in 1880. In his preface, dated January 1st
1874, he claims: ‘‘the melodies in this book...are published here for the first time...the words
of the slave hymns are often common property through the South, sung to different tunes in
different sections of the country’’. (Slavery had only just been abolished in the USA in 1865).
Fenner’s book included, among many, the first appearances in print of ‘Swing Low Sweet
Chariot’ and ‘Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen’.
The song is entitled ‘Good News, de Chariot’s comin’ with the lines:
Gwine to get up in de chariot, Carry me home (x3) - an’ I don’ want her leave a me behind’
The chorus is: ‘Good news, de chariot’s comin’ (x3) an’ I don’ want her leave a me behind’
Other verses : ‘Dar’s a long white robe in de hebben I know (x3)
And : ‘Dar’s a golden harp in de hebben I know (x3)
1906 The English journalist and author Alec John Dawson mentions the song in an article
he wrote in The Standard (forerunner of the London Evening Standard) entitled ‘Folk Lore of
the Sea’ (November 17th 1906). The song appears under the name ‘Roll the Old Chariot’
and he says he collected it in the 1880’s. This confirms its existence as a shanty at that time.
1926 In ‘Folk-Songs of America: The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection 1922-1932’ the
song appears on a wax cylinder recording of an unnamed sailor in California.
Gordon, an American academic and folk song collector said his intent with the collection was
‘‘not only to collect folksongs but to present them to the public’’.
Gordon’s unknown sailor sang only a chorus and one verse of the song.
No doubt the restrictions of wax cylinders did not allow any more verses.
This was followed by part of the shanty ‘Roll the Woodpile Down’.
He sings; ‘Roll the Old Chariot Along (x3) and we’ll all hang on behind’.
His verse is: ‘If the devil’s in the way we’ll roll it over him (x3).
The American Folklife Centre re-issued Gordon’s wax cylinder recordings, first on 78 rpm
discs, then L.P’s, then CD’s and now, recently, on the Internet.
1927 Dr. Thomas Wood’s ‘The Oxford Song Book Volume 2’ contains a collection of 140
folksongs including sea shanties and ‘various other songs we remember from our childhood’.
He includes the song under the title ‘The Old Chariot’ in the section devoted to sea songs.
Wood’s version has the same chorus as Gordon’s but a different structure to the verses:
‘A plate of hot scouse wouldn’t do us any harm’ (x2). Then a different 3rd line:
‘It would roll, roll, roll the chariot along’
Other verses were ‘A new plum duff’. ‘A glass of whiskey hot’ and ‘A fresh sea pie’.
Dr Wood was a composer and author from Chorley, Lancashire who said that his education
‘had been immeasurably enriched by boyhood voyages with his father’ (a master mariner).
1927 Carl Sandberg was a poet, collector and performer of American folk music. His book
‘The American Songbag’ contains 290 songs which have influenced many American
musicians including Pete Seeger who called the book a ‘landmark’. In print for over 70 years,
it had sections entitled ‘Sailormen’ and ‘Road to Heaven’. Surprisingly our song does not
appear in either of these but instead in a section called ‘The Big Brutal City’ where he says:
‘‘What would the big brutal city be without that International, interdenominational
organisation, The Salvation Army?...An old Saturday night favourite in Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin and Waterloo, Iowa is The Chariot Song’’ which he gives as:
‘Well roll, we’ll roll the chariot along (x3) and we won’t drag on behind’ then:
‘If the devil’s in the way we will roll it over him’ (x3) and:
‘The collection will help us to roll it along’ (x3)
Later more verses were added to the Salvation Army version such as:
‘The band will help us to roll it along’ (x3) and
‘The General will help us to roll it along’ (x3).
1928 Newman Ivey White’s ‘American Negro Folk-Songs’ published by Harvard University
is a collection of over 800 songs representing most of the Southern States. It was, perhaps,
the first anthology of African American music. White was an American professor of English
at Duke University, North Carolina. He gives several versions of the song including one from
the Dismal Swamp in North Carolina and another sung in 1911 and 1912 by students of
Trinity College, Duke University, as a ‘pep-song’ at baseball games with the chorus ending:
‘We won’t drag on behind’ (like the Salvation Army version) but with the ‘sinner’, ‘drunkard’,
‘gambler’ and ‘harlot’ ‘in the way’ and the idea being to ‘stop and take them in’.
In the case of the devil this changes, of course, to ‘ we’ll run it over him’.
Another of White’s versions gives a ‘Golden Wheel’ rolling instead of a Chariot.
1928 The singer Paul Robeson recorded a beautiful slow version of the song with the
words: ‘We’ll Roll the Old Chariot Along (x3) but you must hang on behind’. His verses are:
‘If your brother’s in the way just roll right over’ (x3)
‘If your deacon’s in the way just roll right over’ (x3)
‘If your preacher’s in the way just roll right over’ (x3)
Originally available on a 12 inch shellac 78 rpm record ‘Paul Robeson Medley’ (HMV) it has
been reissued on ‘Paul Robeson: The Complete EMI Sessions 1928-1939.
1929 James Madison Carpenter collected two versions of the song from British sailors
between 1927 and 1929 on his collecting trips to the UK for his Harvard University thesis.
Only one version, 30 seconds long, is available on a wax cylinder (available in the Library of
Congress and on Folktrax CD 141 & 142). This he collected from George Simpson in
Dundee as ‘Roll and Carry it along’ (The Chariot Along) with a chorus of:
And we’ll roll, we’ll roll, we’ll carry it along’ (x3) (Manuscript P 03562)
Also available in manuscript form (P 03561) is a version Carpenter collected from John Boyd
under the title ‘Rolling Chariot’ with a chorus: ‘Oh, we’ll roll, we’ll roll the chariot along’ (x3).
1930 Reverend T.T. Rose and singers recorded a gospel version of the song with a chorus:
‘Let’s Roll the Old Chariot Along’ (x3) and you won’t be left behind’ The verses were:
‘If your mother (sister, father, brother) wants to go’ (available on a Paramount 78 rpm record)
1937 Alan Lomax, who along with his father John made over 10,000 field recordings,
collected the song from Captain Pearl R. Nye in Akron, Ohio under the title ‘The Gospel
Chariot’. With a chorus; ‘So we’ll roll the Gospel Chariot Along’ (x3) and words starting:
‘I am a soldier of the Lord and I have signed up for life’ obviously from the Salvation Army.
Lomax collected 33 songs from Captain Nye who was born on a canal boat on the Ohio and
Erie Canal in 1872, the 15th of 21 children who had no formal schooling and were
entertained on the boat with old songs they memorised. Nye worked on the canal for over 40
years and he was known as ‘The Last of the Canal Boat Captains’.
1939 Emelyn Gardner and Geraldine Jencks in ‘Ballads and Songs of South Michigan’
collected the song from Fred Buckingham in West Branch, Michigan in 1935. His first verse
is: ‘If we had a keg of whiskey we’d roll it along’.
1951 William Main Doerflinger in ‘Shantymen and Shantyboys’ (later ‘Songs of the Sailor
and Lumberman’) collected a version of the song from Richard ‘Dick’ Maitland, a resident of
Sailors Snug Harbour, Staten Island, New York. This was a retirement home for ‘aged’,
‘decrepit’ and ‘worn out’ sailors’ set up in 1801 as a bequest of Robert Richard Randall (heir
to a shipping fortune) in his will.
Maitland’s version was again the religious one from Carl Sandberg via the Salvation Army.
Maitland told Doerflinger that it was about ‘the chariot that takes us upstairs’.
‘We’ll Roll the Old Chariot Along (x3) and we’ll all hang on behind’ The verses began:
‘If the devil’s in the road we’ll roll it over him’ (x3)
1955 Pete Seeger sang a variant of the song ‘Roll the Union On’ written by John Handcox
on ‘The Original Talking Union and other Union songs’. Here 7 new Union songs had been
added to the 6 original songs on ‘Talking Union’ recorded in 1941 by the Almanac Singers
(Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Millard Lampell and Woody Guthrie). On the new recording Pete
was joined in the chorus by the ‘Song Swappers’ (Erik Darling of the Weavers and Mary
Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary). The devil, drunkard, harlot etc were replaced by:
‘If the boss gets in the way we’re gonna roll right over him - We’re gonna roll the Union On’
‘If the scabs get in the way we’re gonna roll right over them etc.
‘If the goons get in the way we’re gonna roll right over them etc.
‘We’re gonna roll, we’re gonna roll, we’re gonna roll the Union On’
‘We’re gonna roll, we’re gonna roll, we’re gonna roll the Union On’
Pete talked about the song in a speech at Ford Hall Forum, Boston Massachusetts on
November 12th 1967 when he said:
‘’Coming up through the 1930’s an interesting thing happened. The Labor Movement took a
lot of melodies from the gospel churches. But their words were not anti-church, they simply
emphasized a militancy that had long been there...but they emphasized it. And so it was that
in the 1930’s you could find not one, not two but dozens of songs made up to hymn tunes.
Instead of 'Roll the Chariot On’ it became ‘We’re gonna Roll the Union On’.
Just as ‘Jesus is my captain, I will not be moved’ became ‘We shall not be moved’.
And the hymn ‘I will overcome’ became ‘We shall overcome’.’’
‘Roll the Union On’ became a favourite with the ‘Wobblies’ (IWW) and at political gatherings
and marches.The folklorist John Greenway said it became a protest song for coal miners.
1955 Olufela ‘Fela’ Sowande an African musician, composer and jazz band leader from
Nigeria composed a choral version of the song for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone and Bass
with piano and rhythm combo accompaniment. This is available from Warner Chappell Music
1961 Stan Hugill’s book ‘Shanties from the Seven Seas’ became the ‘bible’ for all up and
coming shanty singers (including myself). Along with Doerflinger this is the only version of
the song in a shanty collection. Bullen, Colcord, Sampson, Sharp, Shay, Terry, Whall, etc all
seem to have missed it or, perhaps, chose to omit it from their collections, maybe because of
its religious overtones. Possibly sailors did not include it in their repertoire for this reason too.
Stan’s ‘Drop of Nelson’s blood’ version returns to the well known chorus of:
‘So we’ll roll the old chariot along’
‘And we’ll roll the old chariot along’
‘Oh, we’ll roll the old chariot along’
‘An’ we’ll all hang on behind’
The 7 verses he gives are reminiscent of those given in Thomas Wood’s ‘Oxford Song Book’
‘Oh, a plate of Irish stew’, ‘a nice fat cook’, ‘a roll in the clover’.’a long spell in gaol’, ’a nice
watch below’ and ‘a night with the girls’ all ‘wouldn’t do us any harm’.
This version has influenced all singers of shanties (including myself) since its publication.
The same is true of hundreds of other unique shanties and shanty versions in Stan’s book.
All the modern recordings (apart from one) of ‘Roll the Old Chariot Along’ from all over the
world have been influenced by the version of the song that Stan Hugill gave us.
Here they are:
1978 Mary Benson sang Stan’s version at Seattle Chantey Festival accompanied by Stan
himself plus Lou Killen (Louisa Jo Killen) and the X Seamen's Institute from New York.
This was recorded on Folkways FTS 37311 and later reissued as ‘Sea Songs’.
Mary replaced Stan’s opening verse with ‘A nice drop o’beer’ and ‘A nice jug o’punch’
1983 Johnny Collins and myself recorded the song in Friesland, Netherlands on our album
‘Strontrace’ celebrating the great sailing barge race festival in the country which we sang at
for 30 years until Johnny’s death in 2009. The song was hugely popular in that country, the
first time we performed it at a concert in 1980 we were asked, after about 20 minutes, to
‘sing the one about the chariot again!’. We did so but then after another 20 minutes they
demanded that we ‘sing it again’. So we sang the same song 3 times on the same concert!
1989 Robert Leng recorded the song for BBC Radio Humberside. He was accompanied by
fellow fisherman Jossy ‘Pop’ Mainprize and Jim Eldon, who organised the recording.
It was later released by Musical Traditions Records in 2018 as ‘Song and Tales from
Flamborough Head’. Their chorus line was ‘And we won’t leave one behind’. Their verses:
The Hallelujah Lasses will Roll it Along’,
The Fishermen will help us to Roll it Along’ and
‘The farmer boys will help us to Roll it Along’.
These are obviously derived from the old Salvation Army version collected by Sandberg.
1992 Stan Hugill released the shanty version in France accompanied by Stormalong John.
The album was entitled ‘Chant des Marins Anglaise’ on Le Chasse-Maree label and had
been recorded at shanty festivals in Brittany in 1988, 1989 and 1991. His verses were:
‘A drop of Nelson’s Blood wouldn’t do us any harm (x3) and we’ll all hang on behind’
‘A night with the gals’, ‘A nice plate of scouse’, ‘A nice plum duff’, and ‘A night in gaol’.
1997 The American group ‘The Jolly Rogers’ released ‘Pirate’s Gold’, a ’greatest hits’
album of their previous albums released on cassette tape only. Their version begins:
‘A little slug o’ gin’ and ‘A little dram o’ wine wouldn’t do us any harm’.
2005 The Keelers recorded the Stan Hugill version of the shanty on an album called ‘Heave
Away, Haul Away’ along with a book with words and music of several shanties to be taught in
schools. The project developed by Folkworks was part of the ‘Tall Ships Race’ in Newcastle.
The late Peter Wood led the shanty on the recording which was very popular in schools
where the children had great fun adding verses of their own of things they’d like.
2006 Jarvis Cocker, front man of the rock group Pulp recorded the song on ‘Rogues
Gallery’ (Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys).
This was one of 43 tracks on the double album performed by multiple artists including Sting,
Bono, Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Richard Thomson, Martin & Eliza Carthy, Loudon
& Rufus Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle. Cocker sings the standard shanty with the verses:
‘A drop of Nelson’s Blood’, ‘A plate of Irish Stew’ and ‘A night with the Gals’
2008 Captain Black’s Sea Dogges, a pirate group from Springfield, Missouri recorded it as
‘A drop of Nelson’s Blood’ on their album ‘Bucket of Blood’.
2009 Danny Spooner the late Australian folk singer added the verses:
‘A night in Charlie Browns wouldn’t do us any harm’ and
‘A night in Charlie Browns might make you stiff and sore’
These verses referred to a house of ill-repute outside of the West India Docks.
He included the song on his album ‘Bold Reilly Gone Away’.
2010 David Coffin sang the song at Portsmouth Maritime Festival in New Hampshire, USA.
This was a ‘new’ version of the shanty which went viral on YouTube with over five million
views at the time of writing. He released the song as a ‘single’ with opening two verses:
‘We’d be alright if the wind was in our sails (x3) and we’ll all hang on behind’ and
‘We’d be alright if we make round the Horn (x3) and we’ll all hang on behind.
These are followed by the standard Stan Hugill verses.
This variant of the shanty has now become the standard version in America.
2011 Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends sang the song at Cambridge Folk Festival and it was
released on a DVD of the Festival . Later it was to feature on the soundtrack of the 2019 film
‘Fishermen’s Friends’.
2012 Storm Weather Shanty Choir from Norway released a CD ‘A Drop of Nelson’s Blood’.
2013 The Wellington Sea Shanty Society from New Zealand sang it as ‘Nelson’s Blood’ on
their album ‘Now That’s What I Call Sea Shanties Volume 1’ along with ‘The Wellerman’.
2018 Hovey Corbin sang the shanty in a movie ‘The Old Man and the Sea: Return to Cuba’
2019 Jon Boden sang the shanty on his ‘All Hang Down’ album but said that ‘’as the words
were ‘on the minimalist side’ I’ve contributed my own’’. He altered the repetitive 3 lines to:
‘Some liquor in the blood wouldn’t do us any harm’
‘Fill another cup and signal the alarm’
‘And batten down the hatches’
‘For the storm before the calm’
‘And we’ll All Hang Down Behind’
This was the 4th verse of his ‘composed’ version but I rather like it.
2020 I included it in my first Book/CD ‘Haul Away’ (later followed by ‘Heave Away’ and ‘Sail
Away’ (I wrote these to relieve my boredom during the Covid 19 Pandemic and Lockdown).
2021 Abney Park, a steampunk band (formerly Goth band) from Seattle released a version
of the shanty on their album ‘Technoshanties’.
2022 Gustavo Steiner, an opera singer from Brazil released it on various internet platforms.
2022 Nathan Evans who became a TikTok sensation overnight with his version of the New
Zealand forebitter ‘Soon may the Wellerman Come’ recorded the
David Coffin version of the
shanty on his ‘Wellerman’ album.
2023 The Longest Johns sang it on ‘The C-sides’ album as ‘Drop of Nelson’s Blood’.
2023 The Salts, a UK folk-rock band, sang the shanty at Milton’s Music Hall (at ‘an evening
of sea shanties and nautical songs’) and later released the live version on their ‘Live in
London’ album saying they were ‘’Doing for shanties what The Pogues did for Irish Folk’’.
2024 The Dreadnoughts, a Canadian punk band, recorded it on their ‘Green Willow’ album.
2025 Mossy Christian recorded the Robert Leng version on Matthew Quinn’s ‘In theRoud -
a Folk Song Podcast’ (I provided the backup history on the ‘In the Roud - Patreon’).
I’d like to finish with my favourite modern version of the song. It was given to me recently at
a singing weekend hosted by The Unthanks by Peter and Angela Karczewski.
This was written by Boff Whalley, lead guitarist for the anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba.
It’s called the Citizen Shanty and was composed after the UK Conservative Party
Conference in 2016 where Theresa May declared that ‘‘If you believe you are a citizen of the
world, you’re a citizen of nowhere’’. In her time in office May said she intended ‘’to create a
really hostile environment for illegal migration’’ and was responsible for the ‘Windrush
Scandal’ where Afro-Caribbean Britons were illegally deported from the UK after decades of
living here. The song was written as a response, as a declaration of support and
encouragement to all those people across the globe having to flee their homes and look for
help in other parts of the world. Here it is, as sung by The Commoners Choir which Whalley
started in Leeds. I think Pete Seeger would have loved it.
Well, we’ve come a long way for to find ourselves a home (x3)
‘Cos we’re citizens of the world
Chorus: And you’re more than, more than welcome here (x3)
‘Cos you’re citizens of the world
Well my mother and her mother and her mother before (x3)
They were citizens of the world
And here’s a hand to help you ashore (x3)
‘Cos you’re citizens of the world
Well our nation’s roots spread wide and deep (x3)
‘Cos we’re citizens of the world
Well you’re nowhere if you believe Thesea May (x3)
‘Cos we’re citizens of the world
So The Chariot Rolls On and long may it continue to do so.
Jim Mageean, Cullercoats UK, 2025
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