A Boy Had An Auger- (US) pre1927 Sandburg
[From: The American Songbag- Carl Sandburg -1927. No information is given about the informant, location, or the date of this short rendition of the ballad. Sanburg's text was first printed with music by Oliver Ditson in the Carmina Collegensia.
LOWLANDS- From Carmina Collegensia: edited by Henry Randall Waite; 1868
A boy he had an auger,
That bored two holes at once;
A boy he had an auger,
That bored two holes at once;
And some were playing cards,
And some were throwing dice,
The boy upset the tea-kettle
And drownded all the mice.
CHORUS.
As we sailed along the lowlands, lowlands, lowlands,
As we sailed along the lowlands low.
And we buried him in the lowlands, lowlands, lowlands,
And we buried him in the lowlands low.
Oh Pompey was the greatest man
That ever yet was born,
And Pompey was the greatest man
That ever yet was born;
For he could play the banjo,
And on the tambourine,
At rattling of the bones he was
The greatest ever seen.
This appears to be the likely model for the fragment published by Sandburg. Here are Sandburg's notes, music and text:
A BOY HE HAD AN AUGER
An old English song is revamped in American colleges. Spoken final lines are improvised, as follows, "The Q is silent as in electricity," or "The bee is not mentioned as in bumble or honey," and so on.
A boy, he had an auger,
It bored two holes at once;
A boy, he had an auger,
It bored two holes at once;
And some were eating pop-corn,
And some were eating pickles
Spoken (And the G is silent as in "Fish.")