The Keel Row is a traditional Tyneside folk song evoking the life and work of the keelmen

Keelmen

The Keelmen of Tyne and Wear were a group of men who worked on the keels, large boats that carried the coal from the banks of both rivers to the waiting collier ships. Because of the shallowness of both rivers, it was difficult for ships of any significant draught to move up river and load with...

 of Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

. It was first published in 1770, but may be considerably older. The opening lines of the song set it in Sandgate, that part of the quayside overlooking the River Tyne to the east of the city centre where the keelmen lived and which is still overlooked by the Keelmen's Hospital.

Lyrics

As I came thro' Sandgate,

Thro' Sandgate, thro' Sandgate,

As I came thro' Sandgate,

I heard a lassie sing:

'O, weel may the keel row,

The keel row, the keel row,

O weel may the keel row

That my laddie's in.'

'O wha's like my Johnnie,

Sae leish, sae blithe, sae bonnie?

He's foremost 'mang the mony

Keel lads o' coaly Tyne;

He'll set or row sae tightly

Or, in the dance sae sprightly,

He'll cut and shuffle slightly,

'Tis true, were he nae mine.'

'He wears a blue bonnet,

Blue bonnet, blue bonnet,

He wears a blue bonnet

A dimple in his chin.

And weel may the keel row,

The keel row, the keel row,

And weel may the keel row

That my laddie's in.'

The tune of "The Keel Row" is used as the trot march of the Royal Horse Artillery

Royal Horse Artillery

The regiments of the Royal Horse Artillery , dating from 1793, are part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery of the British Army...

, one of the mounted regiments of the British Army. The writer Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

 mentioned the tune in one of his accounts of army life in imperial India under the British Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

: "The man who has never heard the 'Keel Row' rising high and shrill above the sound of the regiment...has something yet to hear and understand".

External links

• article on the song, includes recording of tune