On Nov. 12, 1939, the same day he recorded a number of other shanties for the folklorist Sidney Robertson Cowell, Captain Leighton Robinson performed the following version of "Hanging Johnny." While generally familiar except for its first chorus, Robinson's rendition is noteworthy as a full and integral version of a sea shanty recorded by a genuine sailor of the old school while he was still in good voice.

Robinson was a Cornishman, apparently from Falmouth, who first went to sea in 1888. At the time of the recording, he was about 68 years old.

             Oh, they call me Hanging Johnny!
                  Away-ay! Johnny!
             Oh, they call me Hanging Johnny!
                  Oh, hang, boys, hang!

[Similarly:]

             And they said I hanged me daddy!...
             Oh, they said I hung [sic] my daddy!...

             Me daddy and me mammy!...

             And they say I hang for money!...

             But I never hanged nobody!...

             Oh, we'll hang and swing together!...

             We'll hang for better weather!...

You can hear Robinson singing this song and others at the Library of Congress's American Memory website. There's also a good photo of him taken, it would seem, at the time of recording.

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Robinson Recordings

1	Away, Rio	thread
2	Sally Brown	thread
3	Hanging Johnny	thread
4	Poor old man	thread
5	Whiskey Johnny	thread
6	Roll the cotton down	thread
7	Goodby, fare you well	thread
8	Rolling home	thread