I'm convinced that Bob Roberts knew the song was based on a poem by C. Fox Smith but you're correct, he doesn't credit her. Odd.

If I were singing this song at a small C. Fox Smith workshop at Mystic I'd stick closer to her words. If I were singing it at a general concert, I would seriously consider replacing racist or other ethnic slurs. But everyone needs to make that decision themselves. Preferably well before they are up on stage about to lead the song.

Sometimes I drop "dago" as in "dago fiddler's tune" in "Lee Force Brace," replacing it with "a good old fiddler's tune" but in the same poem I keep "Dago Pete," one of the sailors swept overboard, because that's what the sailor telling the tale knew him as. In "Port o' Dreams" I keep "dago dancing hall" primarily because of alliteration but my wife prefers "rowdy dancing hall." Just a couple of examples which illustrate my choices. I don't think I'd ever use the "N-word" referring to a Black sailor; the term is, and has been for much of its history, derogatory.

Charley Noble