THE RUMMY CROCODILE

Come landlubbers all both great and small
To tell you I am bound
What happened to me when I went to sea
And the wonders there I found

Shipwrecked I was off Peru
And there was cast ashore
Resolved I was to take a view
And the country to explore

I traveled east I traveled west
I traveled to the ocean
There I saw a wondrous sight
"Twas like the earth in motion

Quickly I drew up long side
I saw 'twas a crocodile
From the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail
He reached five hundred mile

This crocodile as you can see
Was not of the common race
I had to climb a tall tall tree
To look into his face

I was aloft, the seas ran high
There came a breeze from the south
I lost my hold and down I fell
Right into the crocodile's mouth

Quickly then he shut his jaws
He thought he'd claim a victim
But I trod so nimbly down his throat
That's the way I tricked him

I traveled on a month or two
'til I cam to his maw
There I found rum kegs, quite a few
And a thousand dollars in store

This crocodile being very old
Alas one day he died
He was six months a-growing cold
He was so long and wide

His skin was ten miles thick I'm sure
Or somewhere near about
It took me two and twenty years
To dig my way out

Now if you doubt the story I tell
Just go to the banks of the Nile
And where he fell you'll find the shell
Of the Rummy Crocodile

as sung by Frank Tracy of Brewer, Maine

from the CD booklet, Margaret MacArthur: Ballads Thrice Twisted.