Lyr ADD: Thirty Dirty Sailors (Dillon Bustin)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thirty Dirty Sailors
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Nov 23 - 04:35 PM

Oh, this is interesting. Thirty Dirty Sailors and the Little Girl Who Went a-Whaling: A True Martha's Vineyard Tale was written by Dillon Bustin. He has written many other semi-historical songs like "Shawneetown," but this is the first Dillon Busting children's song I've heard of.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thirty Dirty Sailors
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Nov 23 - 09:51 PM

And for the sake of completeness, here is the song that cnd linked to.

Thread #36811   Message #513572
Posted By: Naemanson
24-Jul-01 - 02:01 PM
Thread Name: Tune Req: Nonsense song about being a sailor?
Subject: Lyr Add: THIRTY DIRTY SAILORS

Hi MMario, here are the words to Thirty Dirty Sailors. I think it is a Dillon Bustin song but I'll have to double check that.

THIRTY DIRTY SAILORS
(Dillon Bustin???)

My father is the captain of a sailing ship,
A whaling ship, he takes long trips,
And he asked me and my mother if we'd like to see,
Hawaii, in the Southern seas,
And I said, What would I do?
All alone on ship with Mother and you and,

Chorus:
Thirty dirty sailors all telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors just a scarphing out the whales.

My mother said to we could take a book,
A writing book is all it took,
And in it I could write a little every day
Along the way of what I had to say.
And I said, What would I do?
All alone on ship with Father and you and,

Chorus:
Thirty dirty sailors all telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors just a scarphing out the whales.

My father said to that we'd have fun indeed,
Collect seaweed, learn to read,
And listen to Hawaiian children play guitar,
Under southern stars in the oceans far.
And I said, What would I do?
All alone on ship with Mother and you and,

Chorus:
Thirty dirty sailors all telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors just a scarphing out the whales.

My mother said to me if I would rather stay down
in Edgartown I could sit around
and listen to the teachers in the public schools
memorize their rules on a straight back stool.

And I said, There'll be plenty to do!
All alone on ship with Mother and you and,

Chorus:
Thirty dirty sailors all telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors just a scarphing out the whales.

Subject: Thirty Dirty Sailors
From: fretless
Date: 07 Nov 23 - 01:55 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics to Thirty Dirty Sailors, a song about Laura Jernagan, the 6-year old girl who acompanied her parents on a whaling trip in the 1860s. There is a book about the song published in 2007 and I used to have a copy, but I can't find it and none of my local libraries have a copy.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Thirty Dirty Sailors
From: fretless
Date: 09 Nov 23 - 11:20 AM

Thanks all. As always, Mudcat comes through.

"scarphing out the whales" is an interesting verb in the chorus. i've always thought it was "cutting at the whales," wyhich is how I remembered hearing it years ago. Just the folk process at work, I guess.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thirty Dirty Sailors
From: cnd
Date: 07 Nov 23 - 04:35 PM

Hi fretless, the lyrics have been posted here, and you can listen to the song here. Hope this helps.

For what it's worth, the book is for sale online (eBay, Amazon, etc) for only $20 or so, if you're interested in picking up another copy.

Subject: Lyr ADD: Thirty Dirty Sailors (Dillon Bustin)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Dec 23 - 12:27 AM

OK, so I broke down and bought the book, with music and lyrics by Dillon Bustin and very nice illustrations by Susan Convery Foltz. Here are the lyrics from the book:

THIRTY DIRTY SAILORS
(Dillon Bustin)

Oh, my father is the captain of a sailing ship,
A whaling ship, he takes long trips,
And he asked me and my brother if we'd like to see
Waikiki in the Southern Seas,
And I said, What would I do?
All alone on ship with Mother and you and...

CHORUS:
Thirty dirty sailors a-telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors all a-cutting in the whales.

Then my mother said to me that I should take a book,
A writing book, is all it took,
And in it I should write a little every day,
Along the way, Of what I had to say.
And I said, What else could I do?
All alone on a ship with Father and you and...

CHORUS:
Thirty dirty sailors a-telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors all a-cutting in the whales.

Then my father said to me that I'd have fun indeed,
I could learn to read, collect seaweed,
And listen to Hawaiian children play guitars,
Under tropic stars on an ocean far.
And I said, Maybe 'twould do?
All alone on a ship with Mother and you and...

CHORUS:
Thirty dirty sailors a-telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors all a-cutting in the whales.

Then my mother said to me if I would rather stay down
in Edgartown I could sit around and...
Listen to the teachers in the public school,
Memorize their rules on a straight-back stool.

And I said, There'll be plenty to do!
All alone on a ship with Father and you and...

CHORUS:
Thirty dirty sailors a-telling me tales,
Thirty bloody sailors all a-cutting in the whales.

And so we went to sea,
My mother,
My father,
Thirty dirty sailors,
and me.