Lyrics

Roll the Old Chariot

Oh, a nice plum duff wouldn’t do me any harm
A nice plum duff wouldn’t do me any harm
A nice plum duff wouldn’t do me any harm
And we’ll all hang on behind

Chorus:
We’ll roll the old chariot along
We’ll roll the old chariot along
We’ll roll the old chariot along
And we’ll all hang on behind

Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do me any harm

Oh, a little mug of beer wouldn’t do me any harm

Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do me any harm

Oh, a pretty little lass wouldn’t do me any harm

Oh, a night upon the shore wouldn’t do me any harm

Song Notes

Years ago, before I became involved with maritime music, I thought Rob Middleton opened this song with “A nice plump duck wouldn’t do me any harm,” but I finally read the lyrics in Stan Hugill’s “Shanties of the Seven Seas” and discovered it was “plum duff.”  I want to also mention that some groups segue out of this song and into Drunken Sailor which I enjoy in no small way!  — Dean Calin

plum duff [duff = dough] n :
steamed suet pudding with raisins, syn. spotted dick

Renaissance Faire audiences miss the verse about Nelson because it is anachronistic and is therefore dropped.  The story goes that when Lord Nelson fell at the Battle of Trafalgar his body was sealed in a cask of rum to preserve him for burial at home. When the crew’s own supply of rum was depleted, they took to sneaking from Nelson’s barrel a bit here and there until back on shore. The apocryphal tale never did say if Nelson came back pickled or not!

Described by Hugill as a “Stamp-and-go, walk away or runaway shanty.”