Low Bridge, Everybody Down (The Erie Canal)

About this arrangement

The Erie Canal song from 1913, in two parts: a verse in A minor and a chorus in C major, both written with no sharps or flats in the key signature. The verse starts on a pickup, the E above middle C, and has two sharps written in, D sharp in bar 11 and G sharp in bar 12, where the tune slides down to “hay”. The chorus, “Low bridge, ev-’ry-bod-y down”, is full of dotted quavers and semiquavers (sixteenth notes), long-short, and climbs to the high G in bars 21 and 22. The left hand plays chords on A minor, D minor, E7, F, C, G and G7.

Practice tip: Clap the chorus rhythm first: “ev-’ry-bod-y down” is long-short, long-short, then a long note. In the verse, find the D sharp and the G sharp before you start; in bar 18 “’ry” is a D sharp and “down”, in the same bar, a D natural.

The words

I've got an old mule and her name is Sal, Fifteen years on the Erie Canal, She's a good old worker and a good old pal, Fifteen years on the Erie Canal. We've hauled some barges in our day, filled with lumber, coal and hay, and ev-'ry inch of the way I know, from Albany to Buffalo. Low bridge, ev-'rybody down, low bridge, we must be getting near a town, you can always tell your neighbor, you can always tell your pal, if he's ever navigated on the Erie Canal.

A short history

“Low Bridge, Everybody Down”, also known as “Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal”, was published in New York in 1913 by F. B. Haviland, with words and music credited to the Tin Pan Alley songwriter Thomas S. Allen (1876–1919). It was first recorded in 1912, and some people doubt that Allen wrote all of it himself.

The Erie Canal, opened in 1825, joined the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo, and for decades its barges were pulled by mules walking along the towpath. The bridges over the canal were so low that anyone riding on the roof of a boat had to get down when one came near. By 1913 the old canal was being replaced by the motorised New York State Barge Canal, and the song looks back on the mule days.

It became a folk and school song, sung by Pete Seeger and many others, often with the line “fifteen miles” in place of “fifteen years”.

Quick facts

Tune

Thomas S. Allen, 1913

Key

C major

Time signature

4/4

Length

24 bars and a pickup

Tempo

Steadily, crotchet = 100

Difficulty

Level 6: Moving on (piece 197 of 201)

Type

Folk song

Hands

Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left

Copyright

Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use

Questions and answers