A tragedy on the Mississippi River, 1910.
words by Ren. Shields
music by The Leighton Bros.
This song followed and is similar to Casey Jones (1909). It must have inspired Walt Disney because he used it in his cartoons.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- Down the Mississippi steamed the Whipperwill
Commanded by that pilot, Mister Steamboat Bill
The owners gave him orders on the strick Q. T.
To try and beat the record of the “Robert E. Lee”
Just feed up you 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”
Says Bill 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, he tore up the Mississippi
Steamboat Bill, the tide it made him swear
Steamboat Bill, he 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
Says she 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
Sung here by Fred Feild: