trad
Someone on Mudcat wrote: "The song was in books of spirituals by the 1880s. First published sailor-related mention I have in my notes is 1903, in a review of one of Basil Lubbock's books. The song turns up in the collecting work, amongst sailors, of Gordon and Carpenter in the 1920s. One of Carpenter's men had "If the devil's in the way we will roll it over him." Spiritual lyrics. In Wood's 1927 Oxford Song Book a Walter Raby, said it was 'a windlass shanty popular about forty years ago [i.e. 1880s] in Lancashire vessels.'" It seems that the verses below are from Stan Hugill's 1961 Shanties from the Seven Seas.
We’d be all right if the wind was in our sails (3x) (And we’ll all hang on behind )
Chorus:
So we’ll roll the old chariot along
And we’ll roll the old chariot along
So we’ll roll the old chariot along
And we’ll all hang on behind
We’d be all right if we’d make it ’round the horn (3x)
Oh, a night on the town wouldn’t do us any harm (3x)
Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm, (3x)
Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm, (3x)
If the devil’s in the way, well we’ll roll it over him, (3x)