ERIE CANAL^©

Album's version

I've got a mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

We haul'd some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay
We know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, yeah we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If ya ever navigated on the Erie Canal

We'd better look around for a job, old gal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
You can bet your life I'll never part with Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

Get up mule, here comes a lock
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock
One more trip and back we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, we're coming to a town
You'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If ya ever navigated on the Erie Canal

Where would I be if I lost my pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
I'd like to see a mule good as my Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

A friend of mine once got her sore
Now he's got a broken jaw
'Cause she let fly with an iron toe
And kicked him back to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge 'cause we're coming to a town
You'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If ya ever navigated on the Erie Canal

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, we're coming to a town
You'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If ya ever made a livin' on the Erie Canal

Low bridge, everybody down*
Low bridge, we're coming to a town*
You'll always know your neighbor*
And you'll always know your pal*
If ya ever navigated on the Erie Canal*

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, we're coming to a town
Hooo...

Bruce Springsteen recorded this traditional song with The Seeger Sessions Band during the "Seeger Sessions". The song is included on Bruce's 2006 cover album, We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions.

The Seeger Sessions consist of three recording sessions (a 2-days session on 01 and 02 Nov 1997, a 1-day session in Dec 2005, and a 1-day session in Jan 2006), during which all the album's songs were cut live in the living room of Bruce's New Jersey farmhouse. The songs were not rehearsed and all arrangements were conducted as Bruce and the band played. It is not clear during which one of the 3 sessions this song was recorded.

The above lyrics refer to Bruce's version from the We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions album.

The in-studio performance of the song is included on the DVD side of the DualDisc album.

This song was reported to be rehearsed for the Seeger Sessions tour by Bruce Springsteen with his Seeger Sessions Band on 13 and 21 Mar and 06 Apr 2006 at the Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, NJ, and 12 Apr 2006 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ. Played during the first 3 of the 4 public rehearsal shows for The Seeger Sessions tour -- 20, 24, and 25 Apr 2006 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ.

Pete Seeger, to whom the above album is dedicated, has recorded multiple versions of ERIE CANAL. It can now be found on several of his releases, including:

• Concert And Pete! Folk Songs And Ballads (1995 - Collectables 5608)
• Children's Concert At Town Hall (LP: 1963 - CD: 1990 - Columbia 46185)
• Clearwater Classics (1995 - Sony Special Products 17865)
• American Favorite Ballads Vol. 3 (2004 - Smithsonian/Folkways SFW CD).

The Erie Canal opened in 1825. The Ohio and Erie Canal, joining Cleveland and Portsmouth, was completed in 1845. For 25 years these canals were busy trade routes, piloted by burly, aggressive boatmen on long narrow craft. These keelboats were sharp at both ends, built on a keel and ribs. Gradually the railroads replaced the keelboat as a form of commercial transportation and the canal traffic was greatly reduced.

Written in 1905 by Thomas S. Allen under the title "Low Bridge, Everybody Down", this song is now part of the folk (and college glee-club) tradition. Note that another folk song by the same title, or "E-RI-E Canal", also exists, and is quite popular. Both songs were recorded by Seeger, and they are both included on his American Favorite Ballads Vol. 3.

Alternate titles include: "The Erie Canal", "Fifteen Miles On The Erie Canal", and "Low Bridge, Everybody Down". Check out Dave Marsh's liner notes below for more details.

The above lyrics refer to Bruce's album version. Check also the traditional version.

* This additional chorus is from the original mix of the song and can be heard on the video from the DVD side of the DualDisc. It was taken off in the shorter remix that made the audio side.

Dave Marsh's liner notes about ERIE CANAL:

Written in 1905 by Thomas S. Allen as "Low Bridge, Everybody Down," but now as much a folk song as if it had been written anonymously eighty years when the canal was America's most important highway.

The Canal, constructed at huge expense from 1817 to 1825 to link New York City and the East with Buffalo and what was then the West, was America's first great national thoroughfare. It remained important until the heyday of the railroad, and after being enlarged from 1903-1918, remains in operation today, although now used mostly for recreation.

Travel was slow, in the early years on barges drawn by horses, and there were also long layoffs that inspired a whole range of recreations, including frog racing, drinking contests and fist fights. An entire genre of canal songs also developed: songs about the canal, songs that were popular at the inns and bars en route, songs sung by canal workers, songs by and for travelers.

By 1905, when Thomas Allen wrote his song, canal traffic was motor-powered and the idea of a mule-drawn barge tapped into nostalgia. "Low Bridge" reflects some knowledge of how the canal actually operated though, because as it passed through cities, the Canal did pass under some very low spans. And fifteen miles would have been a realistic pace for those early days, too.

"Erie Canal" remains a song most commonly known from parties and in play groups but folksingers like Oscar Brand, Tompall Glaser, Burl Ives, Tommy Makem, and the Weavers have recorded it. Dan Zanes recently made a version for one of his children's albums. Pete's version can be found on several discs, including American Favorite Ballads, Volume 3.