"The Gum Tree Canoe" (1847)
[or, Tom-Big-Bee River]
Words by Silas Sexton Steele
Music by Anthony F. Winnemore

[Source: 18094@LoC "new edition" in 1885
published by S. Brainard's Sons; originally
published in 1847 by Henry Tolman & Co.;
also page 208 from "Minstrel Songs, Old and New" (1883)]

1.
On Tombigbee river so bright I was born,
In a hut made ob husks od de tall yaller corn,
An' dar I fust meet wid my Jula so true,
An I row'd her about in my Gum Tree Canoe.

CHORUS 2 times
Singing row away, row,
O're de waters so blue,
Like a feather we'll float,
In my Gum Tree Canoe.

2.
All de day in de field de soft cotton I hoe,
I tink ob my Jula an' sing as I go,
Oh I catch her a bird, wid a wing ob true blue,
An at night sail her round in my Gum Tree Canoe.

(CHORUS 2 times)

3.
Wid my hands on de banjo and toe on de oar,
I sing to de sound ob de river's soft roar;
While de stars dey look down at my Jula so true,
And dance in her eye in my Gum Tree Canoe.

(CHORUS 2 times)

4.
One night de stream bore us so far away,
Dat we couldn't come back, so we thought we'd jis stay;
Oh we spied a tall ship wid a flag ob true blue,
An it took us in tow wid my Gum Tree Canoe.

(CHORUS 2 times)