Here's some initial tweaking for singing. A lot is lost by making the last line the same (except for the final rant) but the chorus crew will appreciate that change:

By Harry Kemp, tramp poet and sometime sailor, NYC, 1938-1939.
Found at American Memory, WPA interviews.

THE CHANTEY OF THE COOK-2


The Devil take the cook, that old grey-bearded fellow,
Yo ho, haul 'im away!
Who feeds us odds and ends and biscuits whiskered yellow,
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

The Devil take the cook, that dirty old duffer,
Yo ho, haul 'im away!!
Each day he makes the captain fatter and bluffer,
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

The ship-biscuits moldy and the spuds we get are rotten,
Yo ho, haul 'im away!
And the tinned goods that's dished up is seven years forgotten,
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

And each, in his heart, has marked the cook for slaughter,
Yo ho, haul 'im away!!
For the coffee's only chickory half-soaked in luke-warm water,
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

It's put on your best duds and join the delegation;
Yo ho, haul 'im away!
We're aft to ask the captain for a decent ration,
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

Look here, you cabin boy, what has set you laughin'?
Yo ho, haul 'im away!
Don't tell us no lies or we'll clout your ears for chafin'
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

What's this you're tellin'! Is it plum duff and puddin'?
Yo ho, haul 'im away!!
Why not make it roast beef an' let it be a good 'un?
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

Oh, it ain't the cook's fault that we eat one day in seven.
Yo ho, haul 'im away!
It's the owners of the ship - may they never get to heaven,
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

It's the owners of the ship that give us meat that's yellow,
Yo ho, haul 'im away!!
And after all, the cook's a mighty decent fellow,
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

O Lord up in heaven, when their souls and bodies sever,
Yo ho, haul 'im away!
May the owners squat in Hell, gnawing at salt-horse forever,
And the home port's a thousand miles away.

Excepting for one thing, oh Lord God in heaven,
Yo ho, haul 'im away!
Don't let them have no plum duff, one day in seven,
But forever and forever and unto eternity the truck that
we're fed every day. Amen!


Thanks again, Guest Q, on behalf of Harry Kemp!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble