Chillingowullabadorie

AKA Robinson Crusoe
Sinbad the Sailor
Sindbad the Sailor
First Published c1867
Writer/composer Arthur Lloyd Roud RN4712

Music Hall Performers Arthur Lloyd
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Bowling, Harry; USA : California; 1928
American sailormen; USA; no date		 

From monologues.co.uk

Just like Sindbad the Sailor,
Or Robinson Crusoe,
I left, my native land, in search
Of wonders I would go;
I went out as a sailor,
I come back as you see,
A mixture of an Indian,
A Turk and Chimpanzee.

Jamsethee, ma jabajehoy,
Jabbery Dobie Porie,
Ikey, Pikey, Sikey, Crikey,
Chillingowullabadorie.

We'd been to sea a fortnight,
A dreadful storm arosed;
Upon an island I was thrown
To wind and rain exposed:
By savages surrounded,
It was their island home,
They addressed me in a language
Decidedly their own.

I expected from these savages,
Less peace than kicks and blows;
They'd a funny dress, in fact they'd not
A single stitch of clothes.
They tore my things, from off my back,
My hair from out the roots,
They left me with a waistcoat,
A hat and pair of boots.
 
When they'd got all my clothing,
Thinks I, what next they'll do;
They brought their paint and painted me,
With colours red and blue:
And so that was my costume;
A waistcoat for my clothes,
Striped red and blue, a hat and boots
And a ring stuck through my nose.
 
For five years in that costume,
I roamed about the land;
To a damsel of the Royal-blood,
They made me give my hand.
And there were great rejoicings
Upon the wedding day,
And we've got two pairs of black kids
My wife has taught to say.
 
One day a ship appeared in sight,
I'd scarce believe it true;
To reach the ship I stole a boat,
And paddled my own canoe.
But now I'm back in England,
The country I adore;
I'll take good care to stick to it;
And never leave it more.

A comic song written, composed and performed by the prolific  Arthur Lloyd, which was first published and widely advertised in early 1867, for example:

Mar. 31, 1867; The Era

The routine racism of the song lyric is underlined by the sheet music which depicts Lloyd with a ring through his nose.The original sheet music is available on the excellent Arthur Lloyd site.

Aside from this sheet music, the song does not seem to have survived in many publications – only one example is listed on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. In addition it was published over 20 years later in America as Jamsetjhee in Wehman’s Collection of 96 songs No.22 (1889).

Despite its absence in printed sources, reports in 19th-century British newspapers suggest that it was adopted enthusiastically by amateur singers. It regularly crops up in reports of amateur concerts from late 1867-1900.

In US it passed into traditional singing as a seasong/shanty, collected:

  • by James Madison Carpenter from the singing of Harry Bowling in 1928, listed as a forebiter shanty, with title Sinbad the Sailor
  • by Joanna Colcord, given as a possible example of a “Negro song…heard whenever those accomplished singers formed part of the crew… sung by a Frenchman to Captain Edward H. Cole, who sang it to me”. Date of collection unknown but before 1938 when the book was published. Given the title Sindbad.

Not to be confused with the song Robinson Crusoe, with first line: When I was a lad (RN5805).

Sources: