Good Ship Ragamuffin

Variously claimed as both Irish and Australian, the true origins of this song remain murky. The earliest known reference dates it only as far back as 1955, collected from Australian folk singer Duke Tritton, who learned it while busking in Sydney in the early 20th century. Tritton did not claim authorship of the song, but he did write the original version of the final verse.

It appears to be a variant on an even more obscure song called "The Shores of Amerikay", the chorus of which is recorded in British naval chaplain George Goodenough's 1901 book The Handy Man Afloat and Ashore. (That song's relation, if any, to the more widely-known song of the same name, is unknown.) Goodenough seems to imply a possible music hall origin, and while this editor was unable to confirm that idea, the only other known instance of the "Amerikay" version was collected from two sisters in southwestern Scotland in 1963, and they conflated it with another American music hall song from the late 19th century.

The Longest Johns released their version on 2 May 2025 as part of the Uncharted collection from Pieces of Eight.

Factoids

Australia saw several gold rushes in the second half of the 19th century, which drew hopeful prospectors from around the world. Whether or not they found gold, many chose to stay permanently, more than tripling the country's population and transforming the former penal colonies into thriving modern cities.

Lyrics

As performed on the album

I'm on me way down to the quay
Where the ship at anchor lays
To command a gang of navvies there
They told me to engage
I thought I'd drop in for a drink before I sailed away
For to take a trip on an immigrant ship
To the shores of Botany Bay

{Chorus}
Farewell to your bricks and mortar
Farewell to your dirty lime
Farewell to your gangway and your gangplanks
And to hell with your overtime
For the good ship Ragamuffin
Is lying at the quay
For to take old Pat with a shovel on his back
To the shores of Botany Bay

The boss came up this morning
And he says, "Well, Pat, you know
That if you don't mix that mortar quick
I'm afraid you'll have to go"
Well, of course he did insult me
So I demanded all me pay
And I told him straight I was gonna emigrate
To the shores of Botany Bay

{Chorus}

And when I reach Australia
I'll go and search for gold
There's plenty there for digging up
Or so I have been told
And when I've made me fortune
There'll be no more bricks to lay
I'll take me ease doing what I please
On the shores of Botany Bay

{Chorus 2x}

For to take old Pat with a shovel on his back
To the shores of Botany Bay

Recordings

Stream/Purchase

• Amazon
• Anghami
• Apple Music/iTunes
• Bandcamp
• Deezer
• Pandora
• Spotify
• Tidal

YouTube Videos

• Music video

Gig Videos

• Komedia, Bath, UK (25 June 2025)

Full Band Streams

• Oddworld, Abe's Oddystream (13 Aug 2025)