Walk Along Talk Along
A walking song / sea shanty from Carrie Grover, who walked from Halifax to New Brunswick to Maine with her father as a child. He was a stevedore who left his dock job in Canada when got a job working in the woods in Maine. They walked all the way to Newry, Maine, about 550 miles (885 km). On the journey her dad taught her a huge body of family material, mostly Irish songs. This call-and-response song works beautifully while walking, hiking, or any rhythmic movement.
I taught it at the 2026 North Atlantic Song Convention in Edinburgh, Scotland:
Lyrics
Well we walked out along the bay
Walk along, talk along
We walked out, you can hear us say
Walk along, talk along
Look out in the crosstrees
I walked north and I walked south
Walked till I came to the river mouth
I walked east and I walked west
Walked with one I love the best
I walked in and I walked out
Hear me sing, you can hear me shout
Can you hear the turtledove
Crying for her own true love
Sources
Carrie Grover, via the Maine folk tradition. Grover is also a source for Arthur McBride and other Irish songs that became part of the Maine repertoire.
The Carrie Grover Project