Back to the Songs List Steamboat Bill
Original sheet music owned by The St. Louis Mercantile Library.
Shields, Ren. Steamboat Bill. New York: F. A. Mills, 1910.Song performed by: Jameela Huq (vocals) and Tara Dirst (piano). Recording engineer: Matt Dotson.
Words by REN SHIELDS.
Music by LEIGHTON BROS.Down the Mississippi steamed the Whipperwill,
commanded by that pilot, Mister Steamboat Bill.
The owners gave him orders on the strict Q.T.,
to try and beat the record of the Robert E. Lee.
Just feed up your fires let the old smoke roll,
Burn up all your cargo if you run out of coal.
If we don't beat that record, Billy told the mate,
"send my mail in care of Peter to the Golden Gate."Chorus.
Steamboat Bill, steaming down the Mississippi,
Steamboat Bill, a mighty man was he.
Steamboat Bill, steaming down the Mississippi,
going to beat the record of the Robert E. Lee.Up then stepped a gambling man from Louisville,
who tried to get a bet against the Whipperwill,
Billy flashed a roll that surely was a bear,
the boiler, it exploded, blew them up in the air.
The gambler said to Billy as they left the wreck,
"I don't know where we're going but we're neck in neck."
Bill said to the gambler "I'll tell you what I'll do,
I will bet another thousand I'll go higher than you."Chorus.
Steamboat Bill, tore up the Mississippi,
Steamboat Bill, the tide it made him swear.
Steamboat Bill, tore up the Mississippi,
the explosion of the boiler got him up in the air.River's all in mourning now for Steamboat Bill,
no more you'll hear the puffing of the Whipperwill
There's crape on ev'ry steamboat that plows those streams,
from Memphis right to Natchez down to New Orleans.
The wife of Mister William was at home in bed,
When she got the telegram that Steamboat's dead.
She said to the children "Bless each honey lamb,
the next papa that you have will be a railroad man."Chorus.
Steamboat Bill, missing on the Mississippi,
Steamboat Bill, is with an angel band
Steamboat Bill, missing on the Mississippi,
he's a pilot on a ferry in that Promised Land.