Let The Bullgine Run

Bullgine.jpg

The term bullgine was derisive shipboard slang for an engine. Sailors didn’t like them much, and many still don’t today.
I recorded this song on the album ‘Judy Collins 3’ on Elektra Records in 1963. This is a slightly different version,
but my banjo part is pretty close to the one I played on Judy’s record. This is a rollicking halliards chantey. The Margot Evans was a packet ship, one of the first vessels to guarantee delivery of its mail packets across the Atlantic in a specified amount of time.
Lyrics:
[Em] Oh the smartest clipper [G] you can [Am] find
[G] Heave away, [D] haul away
Is the [Em] Margot Evans of the [G] Blue Cross [Am] Line
[G] So clear away the [D] track and let the [Em] bullgine run!

[Em] Tell me, are you most done?
[G] Heave away, [Am] haul away
[Em] With Liza Lee all [G] on my [Am] knee,
[G] So clear away the [D] track and let the [Em] bullgine run!

O the Margot Evans of the Blue Cross Line,
Heave away, haul away
She’s never a day behind her time
So clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

Tell me, are you most done?
Heave away, haul away
With Liza Lee all on my knee,
So clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

Oh, when I come home across the sea,
Heave away, haul away
It’s Liza, will you marry me?
So clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

Tell me, are you most done?
Heave away, haul away
With Liza Lee all on my knee,
So clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

Oh the smartest clipper you can find
Heave away, haul away
Is the Margot Evans of the Blue Cross Line
So clear away the track and let the bullgine run!