Sister Seusan my aunt Sal Ch: Gwine-ter git a home bime by-high! All gwine-ter lib down Shinbone Al, Ch: Gwine-ter git a home bime-by
Gwine-ter git a home bime-by... Gwine-ter git a home bime-by.

Bullen explains that while this shanty was rarely in use aboard ship, he heard them every day as work songs, for example when discharging cargo. Still, he lists them as “windlass and capstan chanties”.

Bullen’s attempt at vernacular would seem to translate: “going to get a home by and by” and “all going to live down in Shinbone Alley”.