Hi there 'Catters. I understand a number of you are looking for this song. It may be in the DT but I can't find it, so am posting it again, including my verses. Catter Sandy Bob wrote the main part.
Blessings,
Barbara

NOT IN THE BOOK
Tune: Fathom the Bowl
By Craig Brandis

Come all ye bold singers that have to this place come
And we'll sing songs of sailors who don't suck their thumbs
Good cheer is our goal till the rafters we've shook
We'll sing what we please and they're not in the book
    Not in the book, not in the book
    We'll sing what we please and they're not in the book.

From France we do get brandy, from Jamaica comes rum
And bold songs and fair tunes from all over do come
Some songs may be bawdy; their meaning's mistook;
That's probably why they're not in the book.

Good songs may not be pretty or politically in style
Just take a good look at the ballads of Child
Robert Burns was a rover who drank till he shook
Wrote lots of good songs and they're not in the book.

The good folk at Sing Out have done a good turn,
A popular songbook has helped people learn
More people are singing -- just take a good look
But cast your net wider than just in the book.

Here's a couple more by Barbara Millikan:

Come all ye bold singers and hold up your heads
Don't try to read the words and then mumble instead
Line out the chorus; if you forget, don't get shook
You can't check the page 'cause it's not in the book

A song is a story told with voice and with heart,
It speaks of our lives with the taleteller's art.
Make it your own and the flaws we'll overlook,
But you must know the words when they're not in the book.

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I moved this message here from another thread on the same topic.
-Joe Offer-