Lyr Add: Cook on a Bark

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Cook on a Bark
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 09:54 AM

Barry-

I love this one! There are very few sea songs about the cook. There were certainly a lot of nicknames such as "Doctor," "Slush," and "Duff." At least those are some of the printable ones!

The proofreader notes that the second line ends strangely:

I once was a cook on a bark, cook on a bark
That was were I made my make

Could the last word be "mark"?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, who resides in the galley for those who know

Subject: Lyr Add: Cook on a Bark
From: Barry Finn
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 07:07 PM

From the singing of George Herbert of West Geelong, Australia (RIP)

               Cook On A Bark

I once was a cook on a bark, cook on a bark
That was were I made my make
Slinging up the hash
Many sailors ate my stew they're all dead I'm telling you
Old pots I washed but once a year, once a year, once a year
I served water up as rum & beer & it filled them up with cheer

I made custard for the crew, for the crew, for the crew
And it killed just a few, guess my custard's good
Beatles sometimes starts a curse, but it only kills their thirst
You should try my lobster tail, lobster tail, lobster tail
Boiled with blubber off a whale, it will make you ill

When we're out of bacon fat, bacon fat, bacon fat
Then I catck a juicy rat, I know what to do
You salt the critter well, he will last a spell
For I'm a wizard with a rat, with a rat, with a rat
If I use rat's back fat, I'm a wizard with a rat

You should try my lobster sauce, lobster sauce, lobster sauce
Nothing tastes as well with horse, it's a lovely course
You should try my shark-fin soup, it's the stuff to make you stoop
Well there's no better ship at sea, ship at sea, ship at sea
None of them can cook like me, sailors all agree

Cookies, cakes as hard as rocks, hard as rocks, hard as rocks
They're laying down inside of us, oh, lets leave him on the dock

Barry