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I's the b'y that builds the boat,
I's the b'y that sails her,
I's the b'y that catches the fish
And brings 'em home to Lizer.
Hip yer partner Sally Tibbo,
Hip yer partner Sally Brown,
Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour,
All around the circle.
Sods and rinds to cover the flake,
Tea and cakes for supper,
Flatfish in the spring of the year
Fried in maggoty butter.
Hip yer partner Sally Tibbo,
Hip yer partner Sally Brown,
Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour,
All around the circle.
I don't want yer maggoty fish,
That's no good for winter,
I could buy as good as that
Down in Bonavista.
Hip yer partner Sally Tibbo,
Hip yer partner Sally Brown,
Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour,
All around the circle.
I took Lizer to a dance,
Faith, but she could travel,
For every step that she did take
She was up to 'er knees in gravel.
Hip yer partner Sally Tibbo,
Hip yer partner Sally Brown,
Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour,
All around the circle.
Susan White she's out of sight
Fixin' 'er petticoat border,
Sammy Oliver in the dark
He kissed 'er in the corner.
Hip yer partner Sally Tibbo,
Hip yer partner Sally Brown,
Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour,
All around the circle.
A variant was also published as I'se The B'y on p.22 of Songs Of Newfoundland, a complimentary booklet of lyrics to twenty-one songs distributed by the Bennett Brewing Co. Ltd., of St. John's, NL, with the cooperation of the Gerald S. Doyle Song Book from which the words were obtained. Also published in Gerald S. Doyle's Old-Time Songs And Poetry Of Newfoundland: Songs Of The People From The Days Of Our Forefathers (Third edition, p.30, 1955)
A variant was recorded as I'm The B'y by Great Big Sea - Pre GBS (Rankin Street Tape - Live At The Blarneystone, 1991).
See more songs by Great Big Sea.
A variant was also recorded by Ryan's Fancy as I'se Da Bye (An Irish Night At The Black Knight Lounge ©1971, Marathon Records; Times To Remember ©1973, Audat Records).
See more songs by Ryan's Fancy.
A variant was also recorded as I'se The B'y That Builds The Boat by Gordon Bok (North Wind's Clearing: Songs Of The Maine Coast, 1995)
From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:
Flake - a platform built on poles and spread with boughs for drying cod-fish on the foreshore.
From the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada we are told that although the song may have originated in the 1870s, probably in a Newfoundland fishing village, interest in I's The B'y did not spread outside Newfoundland until after the song was heard and transcribed by two researchers interested in Newfoundland's folk traditions, Kenneth Peacock and Gerald S. Doyle. Its melody and lyrics were transmitted throughout Canada in the songbook Folk Songs of Canada by Edith Fowke and Richard Johnston (1954), relying on Peacock's transcription. Teachers and students outside Newfoundland were eager to learn about the music of the newest province, which had joined Canada a mere five years earlier, and I's the B'y quickly became a favourite of classrooms and choirs across the country.
