Hi Kelly,

The song you are looking for is called "Shantyman." Every verse follows the pattern shown in the first verse:

SHANTYMAN
Written by Bob Watson
From The Shanty Crew's 1989 record Stand To Yer Ground (PROP 1885A)


Now modern ships carry mighty funny gear
Chorus: And away, get away, you shantyman
Ain't seen a halyard in many's a year
Chorus: An' they got no use for a shantyman
Slick new fittings are all your style
Chorus: And away, get away, you shantyman
All very clever, but it just ain't right
Chorus: An' they got no use for a shantyman

Full chorus:
Shantyman, oh, shantyman
Who's got a berth for a shantyman?
Sing you a song of a world gone wrong
When they got no use for a shantyman

Levers to jerk and buttons to press
And real live sailors they need them less
Pushing on the buttons and hauling on the levers
And they got no use for horny-handed heavers

The cargo is stored in a polythene pack
Raised and lowered by a dry bollocks jack
Floating computer dressed up like a ship
Skippered and crewed by a micro chip

Soon they'll be sailing by remote control
An' that'll be pleasing to the owners' souls
They'll send their ships from dock to dock
All sat upon their arses in an office block

New-fangled gear's no use to you
When you're off Cape Horn with your fuses blew
Then's the time for to curse the day
You sent your shantyman away

A sailor's life it once was hard
Laid out aloft on a tops'l yard
Now it don't matter if the winds blow high
You can take force ten with your feet still dry

Old-time ways are forgotten and gone
For no-one listens to a shantyman's song
Things no longer as they used to be
It's the knacker's yard for the likes of me

Listen at night and you might hear
A ghostly sound on the quiet air
Is it a voice from the distant past
Or just a breeze in the radar mast?