{title: Excursion Around the Bay}
{artist: Johnny Burke (Newfoundland, c.1894)}
{album: Composed by Johnny Burke, the "Bard of Prescott Street" (St. John's, NL); first published in The Saint John's Advertiser, 1894; Burke d.1930 — widely public domain in Canada}
{key: D}
{tempo: 160}
{difficulty: advanced}
{phase: 4}
{strand: CR}
{feel: drive}
{lead_voice: mid}
{lead_mode: solo}
{lead_demand: showpiece}
{harmony: M}
{a_cappella: no}
{kit: gtr,bod,fdl}
{set_role: comic}
{lang: en}
{country_tags: NL}
{copyright: pd}
{tags: canadiana,chorus,comic,fast,newfoundland,pub,public-domain,shanty,showpiece,timing,traditional,wordy}

{c: A fast, wordy, comic patter song — a disaster-prone excursion on the steamship "Etta" around Newfoundland's Conception Bay. The verses are dense lyric, the chorus tight call-and-response. Johnny Burke wrote it c.1894; widely sung as traditional and PD. Great Big Sea's Up (1995) recording is the modern reference.}
{c: Three chords (D, G, A). Fast 4/4 patter pace, around 150-170 BPM. A crowd-detonator when it's tight.}

{start_of_verse}
[D]Well, we got up at the crack of [G]dawn that morning
And we [D]set off down for the [A]wharf
Where the [D]captain bid us all "good [G]morning"
Says [D]he, "we'll be [A]aboard the [D]steamer
And [D]ready for the [A]annual [D]excursion"
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus}
[D]Come on board, all you jolly [G]hearties
We'll [D]have a real good [A]time
[D]Excursion around the [G]bay
[D]Excursion [A]around the [D]bay
{end_of_chorus}

{start_of_verse}
[D]Mrs. Mooney's three young [G]daughters
Came a-[D]waltzing on the [A]boat
And they [D]met the Murphy [G]boys from Harbour Grace
Who [D]said they [A]had a [D]flask
And could [D]we have a wee [A]drop of [D]rum?
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus}
[D]Come on board, all you jolly [G]hearties
We'll [D]have a real good [A]time
[D]Excursion around the [G]bay
[D]Excursion [A]around the [D]bay
{end_of_chorus}

{start_of_verse}
[D]Now the captain he was [G]drinking
And the [D]first mate was the [A]same
And the [D]Etta she was [G]drifting
[D]Anywhere the [A]wind would [D]blow her
Which was [D]NOT toward [A]Brigus [D]Harbour
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus}
[D]Come on board, all you jolly [G]hearties
We'll [D]have a real good [A]time
[D]Excursion around the [G]bay
[D]Excursion [A]around the [D]bay
{end_of_chorus}

{start_of_verse}
[D]When we landed back at [G]Bowring's
Half the [D]passengers were [A]sick
[D]Half the rum was [G]gone
[D]And the [A]other half they'd [D]hidden
But the [D]band played on through the [A]whole damn [D]thing
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus}
[D]Come on board, all you jolly [G]hearties
We'll [D]have a real good [A]time
[D]Excursion around the [G]bay
[D]Excursion [A]around the [D]bay
{end_of_chorus}

{c: ===== HOW TO PLAY IT =====}
{c: This is a patter song. The verses are dense; tempo is fast. Lead needs to know the lyrics cold.}
{c: Strum: bright driving 4/4, mandolin chop on 2 and 4. Bodhrán hard on the downbeats.}
{c: Reference recording: Great Big Sea on Up (1995). The definitive modern version — they take it at full speed.}

{c: ===== NOTE ON LYRICS =====}
{c: The above verses are a composite of widely-circulated traditional Newfoundland versions of Burke's song. Many regional variants exist; Johnny Burke himself published numerous versions in the Newfoundland press from the 1890s through the 1920s. Feel free to substitute local Newfoundland or BC place names — the comic excursion format is the structure, not the specific destinations.}
{c: For the historically authoritative text, see Johnny Burke's "Burke's Ballads" (compiled posthumously) or the Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive at MUN.}