Round The Corner, Sally!

The corner referred to in Round the Corner Sally is the treacherous Cape Horn.  Many songs exist about the dangers involved and the pleasures that awaited the sailor who survived.  May of these were to be found in the port of Callao, adjacent to Lima, Peru on the west coast of South America.  Sally was a name to describe prostitutes and probably originated in minstrel or black American work songs.


Round The Corner, Sally!

 

Chorus:
Round The Corner is a long, long way,
To Valipo and Callao Bay,
Round The Corner we must roam,
We don't care if we never go home.

 

Was you ever off Cape Horn,
Where your ass is never warm?

 

There's ice and snow and sleet and rain,
You'll meet them coming back again.

 

When we reach those Pacific seas,
We'll drop in to Madam Gashee's.

 

Them Spanish gals will make you smile,
You'll want to stay for a long, long while.

 

It's up aloft this yard must go,
Cuz Mr. Mate has told us so.