A capstan chanty. This is a popular song among contemporary shanty singers. The song originated as a British sea shanty, one of about a dozen similar variants, is documented in Stan Hugill's Shanties From the Seven Seas. It was a part of the folk revival as presented by The Kingston Trio. Hugill tells us that "Bound for the Rio Grande" was one of the favourite chanties among outward bound British vessels at anchor capstan or windlass, but it was also popular in American ships according to Doerflinger. Hugill says that of all the work-songs of the sea, this is the one with the least variation in tune. The words are a different matter: he goes on to list six different sets of verses, which can be mixed-and-matched with six different choruses. Add to this profusion of versions the choice of pronouncing Rio as Rye-o or Ree-o and it becomes virtually impossible to give a "standard" version of the chanty. Despite all these different versions and the disagreement about where it was used, all seem to be unanimous that the Rio Grande referred to in the song is not the one in Mexico (Rio Grande del Norte), but the one in the southernmost part of Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul). These lyrics are a combination of The Kingston Trio's and The Burl Ives Song Book version.