This is one of my favourite songs about bridges. I sang it with my children when they were young, and it's a great song to get stuck in your head! There is some interesting history behind this song about the barges travelling on the Erie Canal. Here are the lyrics:
I've got an old mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge cause we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal
We'd better look around for a job, old gal,
15 miles on the Erie Canal
'Cause you bet your life I'll never part with Sal,
15 miles on the Erie Canal
Get up there mule, here comes a lock,
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock
One more trip and back we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge 'cause we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.
.......
A friend of mine once got her sore
Now he's got a broken jaw
'Cause she let fly with an iron toe
And kicked him back to Buffalo
.....
Once a man named Mike McGinty, tried to put it over Sal,
Now he’s way down at the bottom of the Erie Canal.
If you’re looking ‘round for trouble, better stay away from Sal,
She’s the only fighting donkey on the Erie Canal.
..........
I eat my meals with Sal each day, I eat beef and she eats hay
She ain’t so slow if you want to know,
She put the “Buff” in Buffalo