# Wow, that was a blast from the past **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390 **Category:** Cafe Society **Created:** [July 26, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390 "2020-07-26T13:58:44Z") **Posts on this page:** 8 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A) #### Post date: [July 26, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390/1 "2020-07-26T13:58:44Z")
I turned the TV on, and caught the last few minutes of [_A Taste Of Honey_ (1961)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055506/). Some children were singing [_The Big Ship Sails Through The Alley Alley O_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac_vWT6CvLg). Wow. I think it was kindergarten when we sang that song. I remember going to… an amusement park? when I was about five, and there was a booth where you could record a record. I sang the song onto the vinyl. I haven’t heard the song since, though it comes to mind once in a while. ---
### Author: ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy) #### Post date: [July 26, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390/2 "2020-07-26T20:29:14Z")
What was the movie that included the song fragment: ‘My girl’s a corker / she’s a New Yorker / I’d do most anything to keep her in style’? ---
### Author: ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A) #### Post date: [July 26, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390/3 "2020-07-26T21:16:19Z")
No idea. Just caught the end of it. ---
### Author: ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou) #### Post date: [July 26, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390/4 "2020-07-26T21:32:30Z")
> [@its\_the\_daddy](#): > > What was the movie that included the song fragment: ‘My girl’s a corker / she’s a New Yorker / I’d do most anything to keep her in style’? Here ya go. [http://harrier.net/songbook/manual/mygirl.html](http://harrier.net/songbook/manual/mygirl.html) and [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/p3DneqXU3HI/maxresdefault.jpg "My Gal's a Corker") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3DneqXU3HI) ---
### Author: ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy) #### Post date: [July 27, 2020, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390/5 "2020-07-27T08:41:26Z")
Thanks, TL. I’ve found the kids’ song on other online folk resources too. But the first line, solo female voice, featured several times, over non-related visuals, (maybe a riverside/dockside scene?) in a movie. Don’t know why it stuck in my mind, but it did. Can’t remember any more about the movie, but it threw a switch of some kind in my mind. So I appeal to the TM’s! ---
### Author: ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern) #### Post date: [July 27, 2020, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390/6 "2020-07-27T09:57:57Z")
The song was originally about the Manchester Ship Canal, opened in 1894. It’s sung in the background towards the end of _ **Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs** _, about the famous Manchester artist L.S. Lowry: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SnRX6_Txpaw/hqdefault.jpg "Matchstalk cats and dogs") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnRX6_Txpaw) ---
### Author: ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern) #### Post date: [July 28, 2020, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390/7 "2020-07-28T06:05:26Z")
Something obvious just struck me about _The Big Ship Sails through the Alley Alley O_. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Tanker_ship_canal.jpg/320px-Tanker_ship_canal.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Tanker_ship_canal.jpg/320px-Tanker_ship_canal.jpg) Originally it must have been “The big ship sails through the **canal-y-aly-o** ”. The canal being the [Manchester Ship Canal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Ship_Canal). But it’s not easy to sing, especially by small children, so the first syllable was dropped, and ‘canal-y’ became ‘aly’, which then came to be spelled ‘alley’. I have no idea why why all the online versions seem to associated with pirates. ---
### Author: ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon) #### Post date: [July 28, 2020, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-that-was-a-blast-from-the-past/916390/8 "2020-07-28T06:29:55Z")
I too naturally assumed it had something to do with the Manchester Ship Canal, but as with anything folkloric, it might have built on or be an adaptation of something older [https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-big-ship-sailed-1978](https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-big-ship-sailed-1978)