The Greasy Wheel

Trad with additional words by Ian Campbell
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If you want to join a Braunston boat
A thing you never should do
You get the strap tied round your neck
And the tow rope round your toe
If you want to join a fly boat
And show them a clean pair of heels
Then you’re all right to work all night
Upon the greasy wheel

Come all you jolly fly men
It is a great delight
To work upon a steam boat
Grafting day and night
But if you can steer a fly boat
And keep her out of the field
Then you’re all right to work all night
Upon the greasy wheel

If you want to join a fly boat
You’ll have to change your ways
You’ve got to keep her spotless
You’re cleaning night and day
Between Camp Hill and Norlip
She gleans from funnel to keel
Then you are fit to do your bit
Upon the Greasy Wheel

If you want to join the fly men
On the Brum to London run
Just picture you in the white and blue
You’ll have no time for fun
You give ’em a blast to let you past
They’re tempted never to yield
But they know you’ve got the right of way
Upon the greasy wheel
The origins of this song are unclear. David Blagrove, apparently, collected fragments of the lyrics and the tune from an old boater in the bar of the Greyhound at Hawkesbury Junction on the Coventry Canal in the early 1960's and put it back together again filling in the blanks (information from Bru Peckett). Charles Parker of the BBC, similarly, claims to have collected it in fragmentary form for use in a radio programme about life on the narrow-boats (information from Ian Campbell recording). This song captures the brief glory of the men who manned the steam barges at the end of the last century. Their glory was brief because the steam power which gave them their ascendancy had already, in the form of the locomotive, made the canal system obsolete.

Recorded on :

Something to Sing About - The Ian Campbell Folk Group - Pye Records (1972)
Re-issued on CD by Wooded Hill Recordings HILLCD 21 (1997)