Hard on the Beach Oar

Shawneetown, in Southern Illinois, is just beyond where the Ohio River meets the Wabash. It was the first Anglo settlement on the Ohio River and, before 1830 was a major trade center for settlers and Indians. Nearby salt mines provided the town's major commodity. Grey Larsen recorded "Shawneetown" with Malcolm Dalglish. He says keelboats were the most efficient commercial boats in those days, but had to be pulled upriver against the current on the return trip- gruelling work for the strong, often rowdy crew. Floating downriver, a long oar (the beach oar) was used to guide the craft as well as to manoeuvre it off mud slicks and snags. Indiana writer, musician, and dance caller Dillon Bustin combined a song fragment he heard from a year-round fisherman on the White River with background found in travel logs and novels of the keelboat era and his own melody to make this song.

 

Hard on the Beach Oar
(usually known as Shawneetown)
 
 
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
 
Some rows up, but we floats down
Way down the Ohio to Shawnee Town
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
 
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
 
Whiskey's in the jug, boys; wheat is in the sack
We'll trade them down in Shawneetown and bring the rock salt back
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
 
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
 
Now the current's got her boys, And we'll take up some slack
Float her down to Shawneetown and we'll bushwhack her back
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
 
I got a wife in Louisville, and another in New Orleans
And when I get to Shawnnee Town gonna see my Indian Queen
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
 
The water's might warm boys, the air is cold and dank
And the fog it gets so damn thick you cannot see the bank
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio
 
Some rows up, but we floats down
Way down the Ohio to Shawnee Town
Hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow
Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio