Paddy and the Whale
(Paddy Maloney)
Caterwaulin', tarpaulin', harpoonion' and all.Well, Paddy had never been whalin' before. It made his heart leap when he heard the loud roar, As the lookout he cried that a whale had been spied. "Begod," says poor Pat, "I'll be ate by and by." Now, Paddy run for'ard and reached for the mast. He caught it a gripper and there he held fast. The boat give a tip and poor Paddy lost his grip, And in the whale's belly the silly fool slipped. He was in the whale's belly six months and a day, Till one morning' by luck to its throat he made way. The whale give a hoosh, boys, and then she did blow, And a mile in the air went old Paddy Maloney. Well, Paddy got spat out quite safe on the shore, He swears he'll not go to sea any more, And the next time he follows a venturesome notion, It'll be when the railway runs over the ocean.
This whaling song relates to 1890s Antarctic finn and blue whaling. The earliest texts come from Greenleaf and Mansfield’s Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland (published 1933). On A. L. Lloyd’s liner notes:
From the latter days of whaling is this jokey remake of the Jonah legend. South Georgia lies east of Cape Horn, toward the fringes of Antarctic. Till recently there was a land station there, to which the whales were brought for flensing and processing. Presumably Paddy and the Whale originated late in the 19th century, though it’s debatable whether it was a sea-song first and a stage-song after, or t’other way round. Irish stage comedians knew it, and perhaps it was one of them who set the words to the tune of The Cobbler’s Ball.
Ellen Cohn’s whistled rendition is recorded on Sea Chanties and Forecastle Songs at Mystic Seaport.