Mobile Bay
(John, Come Tell Us As We Haul Away)
Aye, aye, haul, aye, John, come tell us as we haul away.Oh! yes, I've been in Mobile Bay Ch: So he tells us as we haul away; A-screwing cotton all the day! Ch: So he tells us as we haul away; What did you see in Mobile Bay? Ch: John, come tell us as we haul away; Were the girls all fair, and free, and gay? Ch: John come tell us as we haul away; Oh! this I say in Mobile Bay, Ch: So he tells us as we haul away; A pretty girl a-making hay! Ch: So he tells us as we haul away; And the maiden's name was pretty May, Ch: So he tells us as we haul away; She was fair and good, and was not gay, Ch: So he tells us as we haul away; And what did you do in Mobile Bay? Ch: John, come tell us as we haul away; Did you give that fair girl all your pay? Ch: John, come tell us as we haul away; Oh this I did in Mobile Bay, Ch: So he tells us as we haul away; I love the maid whose name was May; Ch: So he tells us as we haul away;
Mobile Bay is a popular, versatile heaving shanty and one of the few to have two shantyman voices for the solo lines (see also: Billy Boy). It was often sung at the windlass, capstan or pumps, especially if substituting the word “haul” for “heave” or “pump” depending on the job. Stan Hugill explains that it most likely began as a cotton hoosiers’ song in the Gulf of Mexico ports. It was also used as a halyard shanty with pulls in the chorus on the words John and haul.
Ferris Tozer gave an early, complex rendition that involves the two solo voices in Sailors' Songs or "Chanties". Stan Hugill also follows this pattern, giving nine verses in Shanties from the Seven Seas. Joanna Colcord’s fragment was short and simple.