Oh, ´twas over on Hof Hogan one day
down by the riverside
A-watching of the steamboat ship
that went sailing down the tide.
It was there I first met me a gal,
one day, she was dressed so very fine,
She just had come over from Germany
on the Douglas Steamboat Line.
Spoken:
Ya, ya, she is the prettiest little Deutscher gal that you ever did see.
She was so pretty, I will never forget how pretty she looked.
Standing on the steamboat dock,
holding down her dress,
waiting for the Deutscher man
who was coming with her express.
She was a pretty little Deutscher gal
and her name was Kitty Grause,
And now she is the new cook
at the steamboat bording house.
I was just a-goin‘ to speak mit her
and say, ‚How do you do?
When she gave me just an awful look
that broke my heart in two.
I was just a-goin‘ to speak with her
and ask her to be mine,
When she said, „Get away or I’ll break your back
with the Douglas Steamboat Line.“
Oh, she looked just like an angel,
a-standing on her trunk,
Waiting for the Deutscher man,
and he was pretty drunk.
Oh, they loaded up this dear girl’s trunk,
and she climbed on behind,
They left me there all in the firm
of the Douglas Steamboat Line.
Spoken:
Ya, ya, and when they were just far enough away so I couldn’t speak to her,
she throwed me one kiss and I see it.
Oh, she was Standing on the steamboat dock
fussing with her dress,
Waiting for the Deutscher man
who was coming with her express.
She was a pretty little Deutscher gal,
and her name was Kitty Grause,
And now she is a-cooking
at the steamboat boarding-house.
Text und Musik: Verfasser unbekannt –
Gesungen von Henry Humphries 1941 in Hancock , Wisconsin . Aus den Aufnahmen von Helene Stratman-Thomas . Quelle: Philip Bohlman , 1979 , Music in the Culture of German- Americans in North-Central Wisconsin (trad, USA, Wisconsin)