"I's The B'y" is a traditional Newfoundland folk song

Music of Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is an Atlantic Canadian province with a folk musical heritage based on the Irish, English and Scottish traditions that were brought to its shores centuries ago...

/ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

. "I's the B'y" is in the Newfoundland English

Newfoundland English

Newfoundland English is a name for several accents and dialects thereof the English found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most of these differ substantially from the English commonly spoken elsewhere in Canada...

 dialect, and translates to standard English

Standard English

Standard English refers to whatever form of the English language is accepted as a national norm in an Anglophone country...

 as "I'm the Buddy". The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame

The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1998 by Frank Davies, that inducts Canadians into their Hall of Fame within three different categories: songwriters, songs, and those others who have made a significant contribution with respect to...

 decided to honour the song in 2005, officially accepting it as part of the Canadian Song Hall of Fame.

Native Newfoundland folk songs

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 have fared well in terms of continued popularity, due in part to their appearance in widely-circulated publications such as Gerald S. Doyle's songsters. Doyle's company published five free and popular collections of Newfoundland songs, the first in 1927, as a means of promoting his patent medicine

Patent medicine

Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...

 business. These songs included "I'se the B'y", "Tickle Cove Pond

Tickle Cove Pond

Tickle Cove Pond was written by Mark Walker , a fisherman and song-writer who lived in Tickle Cove, Bonavista Bay in Newfoundland, Canada during the late 19th century. This song is prized locally for the beauty and wit of the lyrics, which turn a mundane event into an act of heroism...

", "Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor

Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor

"Jack Was Every Inch A Sailor" is a traditional Newfoundland and Labrador folk song. It is a comical retelling of the Jonah tale, with a Newfoundland whaler as protagonist, but in this instance the whale gets his comeuppance....

", "Old Polina

Old Polina

Old Polina is a traditional Newfoundland folk song. It is most likely based on the ship Polynia, built in 1861, of the Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company fleet. The Polynia was commanded by Captain William Guy from 1883 to 1891, when it was sunk by ice in Davis Strait...

", "The Ryans and the Pittmans

The Ryans and the Pittmans

"The Ryans and The Pittmans" is a popular Newfoundland folk song. It tells of the romantic entanglements of a sailor named Bob Pittman, and his desire to sail home to finally marry his "sweet Biddy"...

", and "Lukey's Boat

Lukey's Boat

"Lukey's Boat" is a comical folk song originating from the east coast of Newfoundland. Given its metre, it may have derived from a sea shanty.There are many minor variations of the song, depending on the singer; however it is essentially about the characteristics of the title boat, with the last...

".

Professional musicians including Dick Nolan

Dick Nolan (musician)

Richard Francis "Dick" Nolan was a Canadian musician, born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada. Nolan was known for performing Newfoundland folk music in Toronto night clubs. During his 50 year career he released more than 40 albums and recorded over 300 tracks...

, Great Big Sea

Great Big Sea

Great Big Sea is a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage...

 and Gordon Bok

Gordon Bok

Gordon Bok is a folklorist and singer/songwriter who grew up in Camden, Maine.-Career:His first album, self-titled, was produced by Noel Paul Stookey and released in 1965 on the Verve Records Folkways imprint...

 have recorded the song. Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

-based Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker

Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker

Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker is a musical duo that began working out of Parkdale, a neighbourhood situated in the west end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

 sampled the lyrics in their first single, "Hollowpoint Sniper Hyperbole". An instrumental version of the song was also played in episode two of the HBO Series The Neistat Brothers

Neistat Brothers

The Neistat Brothers, Van Neistat and Casey Neistat , are filmmakers based in New York City. Their self-titled television show, The Neistat Brothers, debuted on HBO in 2010...

.

A Strathspey

Strathspey (dance)

A strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4/4 time. It is similar to a hornpipe but slower and more stately, and contains many dot-cut 'snaps'. A so-called Scotch snap is a short note before a dotted note, which in traditional playing is generally exaggerated rhythmically for musical expression...

 for bagpipes was composed in honour of I's the B'y.

Lyrics

I's the b'y that builds the boat

And I's the b'y that sails her

I's the b'y that catches the fish

And brings them home to Liza. (or Lizer)


Chorus:
Hip yer partner, Sally Tibbo

Hip yer partner, Sally Brown

Fogo

Fogo, Newfoundland and Labrador

Fogo is an outport town on Fogo Island, Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.-History:The largest community on the island, the town may also be the location of the island's first permanent settlement, which took place in the early 18th century, though it is unknown...

, Twillingate

Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador

Twillingate is a town of 2,448 people located on the Twillingate Islands in Notre Dame Bay. It is located off the northeastern shore of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was incorporated on September 30, 1965. The town is about north of Lewisporte and...

, Moreton's Harbour

Moreton's Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador

Moreton's Harbour is a community located on New World Island in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The community, sometimes written as Morton's and occasionally as Morteon's, is referenced in the chorus of the folk song, I's the B'y, with the lines "Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour, all around...

All around the circle!


Sod

Sod

Sod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of thin material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns...

s and rinds to cover your flake

Cake and tea for supper

Cod

Cod

Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...

fish in the spring o' the year

Fried in maggoty butter.


Chorus:

I don't want your maggot

Maggot

In everyday speech the word maggot means the larva of a fly ; it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachyceran flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and Crane flies...

y fish

They're no good for winter

I could buy as good as that

Down in Bonavista

Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador

Bonavista is a town on the Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Unlike many Newfoundland coastal settlements, Bonavista was built on an open plain, not in a steep cove, and thus had room to expand to its current area of 31.5  square...

.


Chorus:

I took Liza to a dance

As fast as she could travel

And every step that she did take

Was up to her knees in gravel.


Chorus:

Susan White, she's out of sight

Her petticoat wants a border

Old Sam Oliver in the dark

He kissed her in the corner.


Chorus:

External links

A recording of I's the B'y from the CBC's kids' website can be heard here, sung by 'Captain Claw'