094 - Drunken Sailor (A)

This shanty is a very well-known shanty, a typical example of the stamp-'n'-go song or walkaway or runaway shanty, and was the only type of work song allowed in the King's Navee. This shanty was very popular in ships with big crews when at halyards; the crowd would seize the fall and stamp the sail up.
It is a very old shanty, having been sung in the Indiamen of the John Company. Olmstead gives a version with its tune in his book "Incidents of a Whaling Voyage"(1839) differing very little from the modern accepted one.
"Shanties from the Seven Seas" by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 134, 135).



Drunken Sailor (A)

   - Way, hay an' up she rises!
   - Patent blocks o' diff'rent sizes,
   - Way, hay 'n' up she rises!
   - Earlye in the mornin!

What shall we do wi'a drunken sailor? x3
   - Earlye in the mornin!

                *2*
Put him in the long-boat till he gets sober.

                *3*
Keep him there an' make him bale her.

                *4*
Trice him up in a runnin' bowline.

                *5*
Tie him to the taffrail when she's yard-arm under.

                *6*
Put him in the scuppers with a hose-pipe on him.

                *7*
Take him an' shake 'im, an' try an' wake 'im.

                *8*
Give him a dose o' salt an' water.

                *9*
Give him a taste o' the bosun's rope-end.

                *10*
Stick on his back a mustard plaster.

                *11*
What'll we do with a Limejuice Skipper?

                *12*
Soak him in oil till he sprouts a flipper.

                *13*
Scrape the hair off his chest with a hoop-iron razor.

                *14*
What shall we do with a drunken solider?

                *15*
Put him in the guard room till he gets sober.

                *16*
What shall we do with the Queen o' Sheba?