Does anybody around here know this song?

[ritaxis]

There's this shanty I have heard a few times. It has Mexico in it, and it's not "Away Santa Anna," or "The Plains of Mexico," or "Round the Bay of Mexico." It's beautiful. It's slow, kind of like those, or "Bound for the Rio Grande." (which apparently refers to Rio Grande del Sur in Brazil, not Rio Grande del Norte in Mexico -- which I thought was actually called Rio Bravo in Mexico anyway)

I can't find it. It's so frustrating! I know I heard it on Youtube, but no combination of search terms brings it up there or on google.

What I remember of the chorus is:

"It's hard on the [something], she moves so slow
Hard on the something, down to [in?] Mexico"

Meanwhile, all this searching has turned up some impossibly macho shanty singing outfits, and also, apparently, Polish people love the Anglophone shanty musical tradition and sing lots of them in different contexts, sometimes translated into Polish and sometimes not.

edit: also there is a person who has uploaded every tiny little obscure clip from every movie they can find where someone sings a bit of shanty.

Comments

[carbonel]

Sorry, not ringing a bell.

But I just listened to "Bay of Mexico" as performed by the Weavers and the Journeymen, which was worthwhile, even if it's not the right one.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

well, when we can't find what we're looking for, we listen to what we can find...I'm listening to these Polish renditions right now, and gaining an appreciation for the language.

[(Anonymous)]

Right genre, wrong geographic reference. The lyrics you give appear to be mostly from Shawnee Town:

It's hard on the beach oar
She moves too slow
Way down in Shawnee Town on the Ohio

One of the modern songs that sounds traditional, though I've heard a similar lyrical pattern elsewhere, so there might be some older bones to it.

-Random shantyman surfing past via James Nicoll's friends page

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

That is interesting. I believe you are correct: but somewhere someone is singing a version with Mexico in it. Thank you so much! I'll track down the song as Shawnee Town and be grateful.

I do that thing too, surfing on James's friends page. For me it is a dangerous habit, as he has so very many friends and it can take all day to read them all...

edit: this is the song. It is, it is. Thank you.