Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor

Subject: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: GUEST,Jolly Jack Tar
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 04:01 PM

I know that this request might insult the purists, but can anyone post the lyrics to Barnacle Bill the Sailor please. It is not for me, honest, but for my father in law.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Sorcha
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 04:05 PM

In the DT. There is another one, too. Go to the white search box at the top of the main page and enter Barnacle Bill..........

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: iamjohnne
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 09:02 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 02:14 AM


Looks like the question has been answered, but I note that essentially the same song - in a slightly ruder version - is sometimes called "Ballochy Bill the Sailor."

Lyrics under the latter title appear, e.g. in "A Book of Vulgar Verse," by 'A Gentleman About Town' published by Checkerbooks in 1981.

John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: pavane
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 03:45 AM

An old version (also somewhat rude), dated to the 1840's, I think, is in the Bodley library called 'Abraham Brown the Sailor'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 09:30 AM

"Purists" do have an interest in this song, as do the purient. The PC may have problems, and other may be more concerned about the situation in which it is song. I think the unvarnished verses are great late night pub fare but probably a waste for the usual afternoon tea party.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Gary T
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 01:56 PM

An alternative first verse:

You're in luck, I'm here to ----, etc.

And in the interest of thoroughness, another verse:

What if I should get the clap?, etc.

I'll light a match and burn your snatch, etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Gary T
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 01:58 PM

Arghh! One other verse:

When will I see you again?, etc.

You'll see me no more you rotten whore, etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: The Walrus
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 06:05 PM

In the version I've heard

V2) "It's only me from over the sea",)
Said Barnacle bill the sailor )x2

V3) You may sleep upon my stair,
You may sleep upon my stair,
You may sleep upon my stair,
Said the fair young maiden.

V4) Bugger the stair, there's no c*** there)
Said Barnacle bill the sailor )x2

v5) You may sleep upon my mat,
You may sleep upon my mat,
You may sleep upon my mat,
Said the fair young maiden.

v6) Sod the mat, I can't f*** that)
Said Barnacle bill the sailor )x2

V7) What if I should have a babe,
What if I should have a babe,
What if I should have a babe,
Said the fair young maiden.

V8) We'll strangle the bugger and f*** for another)
Said Barnacle bill the sailor )x2

I hope someone finds it of interest.

Walrus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 06:24 PM

Almost as performed by me at the Jug-but only on request!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Gareth
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 07:33 PM

On the other hand, take up Rugby - you'll hear them all.

Gareth

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: CarolC
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 08:44 PM

When I was in about the third grade (about age 8), my school used to hold a square dance every Friday night. We used to dance to this song. I remembered the 'who's that knocking at my door' part. But I never could remember the rest. Probably a good thing... It was a lot of fun to dance to, though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Aug 01 - 09:57 PM

Well, when I was a kid, all I heard was the first few lines, but it was "QUOTH the fair young maiden," a much more effective usage. You're supposed to sing her lines in a beautiful, maidenly way, swooping on "maiden." Then you drop to your chest voice and bellow Bill's part. This really cracks up the little kids.

Too bad it's so gross.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 31 Aug 01 - 12:37 AM


A regional "hillbilly" group called "The Ark Valley Boys" used to do a version of this song so sanitized that my first recollection of hearing it was at a children's Christmas party - sometime about 1944. As I recall it, the group's commedian, "Cuzin Clarence" did the part of the "Fair Young Maiden," but I don't recall who sang the "Barnacle Bill" lyric.

Just a bit of nostalgia.

John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: kendall
Date: 31 Aug 01 - 06:48 AM

There is a clean version if you want it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From:
Date: 31 Aug 01 - 07:10 AM

Hi. I am looking for the chords to Beyond the Sea. Can anyone help me? Thanks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: IanC
Date: 31 Aug 01 - 08:07 AM

Pavane

Nothing with the word "sailor" in the Bodleian collection has any remote resemblance to "Barnacle Bill" (I know, I've just spent over an hour checking 257 entries). Do you know where else you might have seen this broadside?

Subject: Lyr Add: ADAM BROWN
From: masato sakurai
Date: 31 Aug 01 - 10:56 AM

Varuous versions of "Bollochy Bill the Sailor" are found in Ed Cray's The Erotic Muse, 2nd ed. (U of Illinois Pr., pp. 81-86).

"Abram Brown" (two tunes) is in Colcord, Songs of American Sailormen (1938; Oak,1964, pp. 178-9). Colcord says, "Now that bowdlerized versions of the ditty have been sung over the radio, there seems no longer reason for reticence about a song which has, after all, a pretty tune and at least one or two printable verses." The "printable" (indeed!) versions are:

Who's that knocking at my door?
Who's that knocking at my door?
Who's that knocking at my door?
Cried the fair young maiden.

Won't you come down and let me in?
Cried Abram Brown the sailor.

I'll come down and let me in,
Cried the fair young maiden.

Have you got a place for me to sleep?
Cried Abram Brown the sailor.

(Additional verse given by Colcord):
It's me meself and nobody else,
Cried Abram Brown the sailor.
It's me meself and nobody else,
Cried Abram Brown the sailor.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 31 Aug 01 - 04:52 PM


Random lines remembered from a very long time ago:

The Ark Valley Boys started off as above with

Who's that knocking at my door? (3x)
Cried the fair young maiden

It's only me, from over the sea
Cried Barnacle Bill the sailor
I'm all lit up like a Christmas tree
Cried Barnacle Bill the sailor

And somewhere after

I drink(s?) me whiskey when I can
Whiskey from an old tin can
For whiskey is the Life o' man
Cried Barnacle Bill the sailor

I'll come down and let you in (3x)
Cried the fair young maiden

Well hurry down 'for I bust in the door
Cried Barnacle Bill the sailor

etc.

Sorry I can only dredge up fragments, but after all I was only 4 or 5 years old then. I'm not sure of the order of the verses, and I'm sure there were some additional ones I don't recall. The verses were connected to make something of a narrative, with a "suggestive" but not offensive (even to 1940's Bible Belt rednecks) conclusion.

My recollection was that the "fair young maiden" verses were nearly all in the format of

"some short phrase" x3
Cried the fair young maiden

The "Barnacle Bill" verses were generally more or less full four stanzas. After all - it's his song, so she played "straight man" to him.

John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Art Thieme
Date: 01 Sep 01 - 04:48 PM

I know there are VERY LONG complete versions of this out there. A former Captain of the steamboat Julia Belle Swain must've sung 25 verses to "B.B." I was sure somebody'd know these songs (filthy as well as clean versions) Was looking forward to all of it being posted here. But this is a very sad excuse for a Mudcat thread. Alas, what's this world coming to ???

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: GUEST,Mrnurse
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 02:21 PM

This is the version that I have been known to sing when the kids are in bed and the parents are still sitting around the campfire.

Sing in falsetto like a fair young maiden.

Who's that knocking at my door?
Who's that knocking at my door?
Who's that knocking at my door?
Said the fair young maiden.

Sing in Barnacle Bill's voice

Well, open the door you fuckin' whore, said Barnacle Bill the sailor.
Open the door you fuckin' whore, said Barnacle Bill the sailor.

What if I should lock the door? (x3)
Said the fair young maiden.

I'll pick the lock with me rock hard cock, said Barnacle Bill the sailor (x2)

Wipe your feet upon the mat. (x3)
Said the fair young maiden.

To hell with the mat I'll fuck your cat , said Barnacle Bill the sailor (x2)

Shall we go to the dance? (x3)
Said the fair young maiden.

To hell with the dance and down with your pants, said Barnacle Bill the sailor. (x2)

What's that stuff around your pole? (x3)
Said the fair young maiden.

It's only me grass to tickle your ass, said Barnacle Bill the sailor. (x2)

What's that stuff dripping down my leg? (x3)
Said the fair young maiden.

It's only a shot that missed your twat, said Barnacle Bill the sailor. (x2)

What if we should get the clap? (x3)
Said the fair young maiden.

We'll pick the sores and fuck some more, said Barnacle Bill the sailor.
You gotta be willin' to take penicillin, said Barnacle Bill the sailor.

What if we should have a child? (x3)
Said the fair young maiden.

I'll open your crack and shove it right back, said Barnacle Bill the sailor. (x2)

What if my parents should find out? (x3)
Said the fair young maiden.

I'll fuck your ma and suck your pa, said Barnacle Bill the sailor. (x2)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: kendall
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 02:36 PM

I'll drink your wine I'll east your pies
I'll blood your nose and black your eyes said BB the S.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Francy
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 02:39 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: bubblyrat
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:14 PM

I seem to recall an episode of "Jeeves & Wooster",as so wonderfully portrayed by Hugh Laurie & Stephen Fry ,featuring a banjo -orchestra whose entire repertoire consisted solely of "Barnacle Bill The Sailor". Without the words,though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 06:56 PM

My earliest recollection of hearing the song was in a Popeye cartoon.
Olive of course took the part of the fair young maiden and Bluto was Barnacle Bill. Popeye and Spinach to the rescue.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: GUEST,guest big al whittle
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 04:30 AM

Bix Beiderbecke recorded a tune by the same name, but it sounds different to me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: pavane
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 06:01 AM

Broadside as mentioned above. Possibly early Victorian era.

Abraham Brown the Sailor

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Lighter
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 09:26 AM

The name "Barnacle" Bill was most likely imported into the bawdy song from the rowdy but respectable 1929 rewrite, which also extended and elaborated the tune.

Any version (like Oscar Brand's) that doesn't follow the stanzaic pattern of pavane's broadside (or the shanty version in both Colcord and Hugill) stems chiefly from the 1929 hit by Frank Luther and Carson Robison.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Mark Ross
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 12:31 PM

The Beiderbecke version has Joe Venuti on violin. The whoe band would sing Bll's part. I think that, if you listen carefully, you can hear Venuti on those choruses singing, "Barnacle Bill tne asshole."

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Lighter
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 01:53 PM

Have a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8YVWE7M2B0

What I hear could conceivably be "Barnacle Bill the shitter," as the guy who posted the song claims. On the other hand, the coda is clearly "Barnacle Bill the Shiller," resulting from a fake toothless tar pronunciation, and the more I listen the more the second chorus sounds like it too.

The first chorus is indisputably "sailor."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: clueless don
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 08:18 AM

This song was around in my childhood (as I'm sure it was, in one version or another, for many.) The one substantial difference was that we always sang "Barnacle Bill the Bastard".

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 07:25 PM

I was utterly shocked at Sidmouth festival last month to hear a married couple (septuagenarians domiciled in Taunton, Somerset) sing Bollocky Bill the Sailor!

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: GUEST,guest big al whittle
Date: 15 Sep 10 - 05:47 AM

Perhaps the bootleg booze of the era was responsible for the mispronunciation of sailor on the Biederbecke version.

Actually that DOES sound like Barnacle Bill the Sailor, I was confusing it with the Biederbecke version of Three Blind Mice, which always seemed to me verging on the completely unrecognisable.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 03:51 PM

This thread has awakened some nearly-forgotten memories from almost a half-century ago when kids used to sing this on the streets of Brooklyn. I can't remember all the verses I heard, but here are a random few to add to this wonderful scholarship:

What's that thing between your legs? (3x)
Said the fair young maiden

It's just a pole to shove up yer hole said Barnacle Bill the sailor (2x)

What's that running down my thighs? (3x)
Said the fair young maiden

Holy Smoke, me scumbag broke said Barnacle Bill the sailor (2x)

What if I should have a child? (3x)
Said the fair young maiden

I'll dig a ditch and bury the bitch said Barnacle Bill the sailor (2x)

What if they throw us in jail? (3x)
Said the fair young maiden

I'll use my cock and pick the lock said Barnacle Bill the Sailor (2x)

or:

I'll swing my balls and shatter the walls said Barnacle Bill the sailor (2x)

I seem to remember the last two responses sometimes were combined into one answer, with neither line being repeated.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: open mike
Date: 22 Sep 10 - 09:45 PM

Here is Sourdough Slim, the yodelling, accordion playing cowboy singing
this song...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsCQkMFl-w8...as I recall he
attributes this tune to Carson Robison...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Aug 12 - 01:50 PM

Lyr. Add: Abraham Brown the Sailor
Tune: My heart and Lute

Who is it knocks at our door,
Says a very nice young lady.
Who is it &c.

It's I myself and nobody else,
Says Abraham Brown the Sailor,
Tis I myself, &c.

Oh! open the door and let him in,
Says this very nice young lady,
And where am I to sleep tonight,
Says Abraham Brown the Sailor.

You may sleep on my soft pincushon,
Says this very nice young lady,
And I've a pin, I'll run it in,
Says Abraham Brown the Sailor.

I feel it rise between my -----
Says this very nice young lady,
It's in your ---- up to the rim,
Says Abraham Brown the Sailor.

Ah! Now it's in let it remain,
Says this very nice young lady,
I'll be d----d if I do, I shall want it again,
Says Abraham Brown &c,

When shall I have your pin again?
Says this very nice young lady,
When I can make it stand again,
Says Abraham Brown &c.

Ballads Catalogue: Harding B 11(2370), Bodleian Library; no date, no printer, but late 19th C.
On sheet with Mary's Garden and Gardners Root

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: pavane
Date: 19 Aug 12 - 01:31 PM

Thanks Q
A link to the original is given further back the thread

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Aug 12 - 01:41 PM

Sorry, pavane, should have credited you for pointing out the Bodleian song sheet.

The music and abc to the tune, My Heart and Lute, Thomas Moore, here:
http://abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=www.village-music-project.org.uk/abc/HughesR/0143

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Ged Fox
Date: 20 Aug 12 - 06:51 AM

The sexually explicit versions are plentiful and easy to find, but here is a fragment of a version suitable for the young. It's all that I can remember from my grandparents' singing, and I suspect that there are more verses (I don't think this version is in Mudcat, or otherwise googlable.)


Who's that knocking at my door? etc

Its only me from over the sea,
Said Barnacle Bill the sailor,
I've just come home from Portugee
Aboard a British whaler

Have you brought my kangaroo? etc

Yes, I've brought your kangaroo
Said Barnacle Bill the sailor,
And a polly parrot too
Said Barnacle Bill the sailor

I'll come down and let you in etc

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 20 Aug 12 - 09:07 AM

Ged Fox's parents were setting words from the pop song to the simpler structure of the bawdy one.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 20 Aug 12 - 09:52 AM

Re the Beiderbecke/Venuti version I think I posted many years ago that Venuti sings Barnacle Bill the shithead.

The story was that the band wasn't keen on the corny songs they had to record and Venuti, a well-known prankster, amended the words accordingly. On the low-quality original reproduction equipment it wasn't really audible, but on modern cleaned up versions it comes across loud and clear.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barnacle Bill the Sailor
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 21 Aug 12 - 08:35 AM

Actually on relistening he might really be singing shitter, with a long drawn out final syllable. (Makes better sense as a replacement for sailor too).

Mick