trad
A cotton-screwing shanty from black southern workers compressing cotton in the hold of sailing vessels to fit more in. ‘Shinbone Al'(ley) is in St George, Bermuda. To be ‘bully’ was to be legless drunk, and being left “in the alley” by your crewmates means that you concluded your shore leave before they were ready to carry you back to the ship. Cecil Sharp collected it and many other shanties in 1914 from John Short a.k.a. Yankee Jack (1839-1933) of Watchet, Somerset. Short spent over fifty years working in sailing boats, much of his younger days in deep-water ships, sailing all around the world as a shantyman.
Finest Kind: https://ianrobb1.bandcamp.com/track/bully-in-the-alley
https://ianrobb1.bandcamp.com/track/bully-in-the-alley
Chorus Help me Bob, I’m bully in the alley, Wey hey, Bully in the alley. Help me Bob, I’m bully in the alley, Bully down in Shinbone al. Sally is a girl that I loved dearly, Wey hey, Bully in the alley. Sally is the girl that I spliced nearly, Bully down in Shinbone al. For seven long years I courted Sally, All She did was dilly and dally, I left my Sal, I went a-sailing Signed on a big ship, I went a-whaling If ever I get back, I’ll marry Sally,ÿ Have six kids and live in Shinbone alley,ÿ I thought I heard the old man saying,ÿ One more pull and we’re belaying,