[Alternately: “My Skiff Am In De Shore,” “My Skiff Am On De Shore,” “My Skiff is on De Shore,” “My Skiff Is On The Shore”].

To listen to this song (and others) on the Artists Respond to Juba Site, Click Here.

A “getaway” song, as Mahar refers to the type, in the vein of some versions of “Going ober de Mountains” (17). In the versions of the song surveyed for this entry, the “getaway” is not always conceived of as being an escape from tedious forms of slave labour: the third and final verse in both the Duncombe & Moon and B. Williams editions of the song suggest the escaping protagonist and Dinah will need to make a living “Cleanin’ shoes an makin’ cakes.”

While the song appears to be fairly popular during the period in question – it had even made it back into the repertoire of British folk musicians as late as 1849 – little information about the song can be confirmed. Its current status is uncertain and at the time of this writing, no recorded versions could be been located.

Works Cited:

Mahar, William J. Behind the Burnt Cork Mask: Early Blackface Minstrelsy and Antebellum American Popular Culture. Chicago: Illinois UP, 1999.

Mark Turner