Linn-

On "Paddy West" I occasionally sing "her mate is a BRUISER, the bosun's worse.

I have no major problem with dropping a verse or two, or substituting words, for younger audiences. Some of the shantymen did that as well when they were working on passenger-carrying tall ships.

I also remember the curious version of "Frigging in the Rigging" we used to sing when our old 40-foot ketch was tied up in some snobby place:

"Singing in the rigging,
Singing in the rigging,
Singing in the rigging,
There's nothing else to do!"

It was perfectly clean but we still had hysterics singing it, wondering who would blunder on a line first.

Now, back to the Lady Washington. Your old captain, Matt Moeller, had some neat songs he put together. You might look up his CD titled REACHING HOME.

You could also harvest some neat songs off my website, although you may want to steer clear of the "Old She-Crab": click here and search for lyrics!

Introduce yourself at Mystic.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble
Roll & Go