AN OLD RED DUSTER
(Coll. Ron Baxter)
Tune:- These foolish Things

The tattered remnants of an old Red Duster
The chaos when we tried to muster
Our legless drunken crew
These foolish things remind me of you.

Those rummage squads that gave us shakedowns
Those days drifting with engine breakdowns
Those engineers who'd not a clue
These foolish things remind me of you.

Those leaks we plugged with cement boxes
Those rats that ran around the hatches
Did the cook use them in his stew?
These foolish things remind me of you.

Those two stewards Big Al and Boris
Though they answered to Sue and Alice
There was something queer about those two
These foolish things remind me of you.

To the breakers we should have brought her
But 'Johnnie the Greek' he went and bought her!
O how we laughed then bid adieu
These foolish things remind me of you.

Note (RJC) Another song recently dredged up from Ron's memory banks. There is a similarly-titled song in the Mudcat forums (but completely different) THE OLD RED DUSTER (John Archbold) in an old "Sea Shanties" thread or here, contributed by JA's son Ted. (Also listed in this thread above by Charley Noble).