G'day again,
I guess that, in posting John Dengate's song, I need to say to John Gray that John Dengate's song wasn't aimed at the enlisted men of the Melbourne - rather at the "officer class" of a Navy that was still more of a "war games" mentality than a real fighting one. The song is one I clearly remember being sung, when my cassette was recorded in 1975 ... but John Dengate couldn't even recall writing the song(without a few bars of 'reminder', from me) when I rang him last night!
Anyway, for what it's worth - here it is:
The Voyager Song
John Dengate (1964?), recorded at Burwood, NSW, 1975
What does the Melbourne do, in a cruise off Jervis Bay?
Sails on the briny blue - and the Voyager's in the way.
So it's hard aport, for who'd have thought, on a peaceful Summer's night,
That a destroyer would sail … and a carrier fail - to give way on the right!
Well, the weather was fair for the bosun's chair, so the Captain went for a ride.
And he piped all hands to elastic bands, as she loomed on the starboard side.
"A ship", cried he, "'Tis the enemy! Whatever shall I do?" (Slurred)
So he cut her in half, just for a laugh - and drowned one third of the crew!
(Drowned one third of the crew - drowned one third of the crew.)
Box the compass, port the helm … and all that nautical stuff!
The radar beeped and the Captain leaped to his feet in an awful huff, crying
"East by west is the course that's best. So jump to it, all you men!"
There was great distress, in the Officers' mess, That night at the RAN!
(There was great distress, in the Officers' mess, that night at the RAN!)
So sing with pride of the suicide … and cheer for the Commonwealth:
Who needs a war … there's a wind off shore … we'll go and sink ourself!
… We'll go and sink ourself!
… We'll go and sink ourself!
And here's the tune (a modified version of the local tune for the 19th c. sailor's (parody… ?) tune The Crocodile. Admittedly, the song is a bit freer in structure than the single set of dots …
John didn't sing a reprise in the first stanza - The second and third do neatly use the fifth line of dots …
and the fourth stanza uses just the first two lines … then splits the shorter reprise (more or less) to the last two bars - repeated.
This is in Alan of Oz's "No Longer Supported by Mudcat" MIDItext format. If you have the old program, you can use it to reconvert to kosher 'dots'. If not - well you can extract the ABC format portion and use any of a number of ABC conversion programs to reconstitute the dots.
MIDI file: voyager.mid
Timebase: 240
TimeSig: 2/4 24 8
Tempo: 100 (600000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0360 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 72 080 0225 0 72 064 0015 1 71 080 0108 0 71 064 0012 1 71 080 0057 0 71 064 0063 1 69 080 0108 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0108 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 65 080 0054 0 65 064 0006 1 65 080 0054 0 65 064 0006 1 65 080 0113 0 65 064 0007 1 62 080 0108 0 62 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 60 080 0216 0 60 064 0024 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0132 1 72 080 0225 0 72 064 0015 1 71 080 0108 0 71 064 0012 1 71 080 0057 0 71 064 0063 1 69 080 0108 0 69 064 0012 1 69 080 0108 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 65 080 0054 0 65 064 0006 1 65 080 0054 0 65 064 0006 1 65 080 0108 0 65 064 0012 1 62 080 0108 0 62 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 60 080 0216 0 60 064 0024 1 67 080 0057 0 67 064 0003 1 67 080 0054 0 67 064 0126 1 60 080 0108 0 60 064 0012 1 62 080 0108 0 62 064 0012 1 64 080 0108 0 64 064 0012 1 65 080 0108 0 65 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 69 080 0108 0 69 064 0012 1 71 080 0108 0 71 064 0012 1 67 080 0057 0 67 064 0003 1 67 080 0054 0 67 064 0006 1 72 080 0162 0 72 064 0018 1 72 080 0054 0 72 064 0006 1 74 080 0108 0 74 064 0012 1 71 080 0108 0 71 064 0012 1 72 080 0324 0 72 064 0036 1 74 080 0057 0 74 064 0003 1 74 080 0054 0 74 064 0006 1 76 080 0162 0 76 064 0018 1 72 080 0054 0 72 064 0006 1 74 080 0108 0 74 064 0012 1 71 080 0108 0 71 064 0012 1 72 080 0108 0 72 064 0012 1 69 080 0108 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 67 080 0054 0 67 064 0006 1 67 080 0054 0 67 064 0006 1 65 080 0108 0 65 064 0012 1 62 080 0108 0 62 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 67 080 0057 0 67 064 0003 1 67 080 0054 0 67 064 0006 1 60 080 0225 0 60 064 0135 1 67 080 0054 0 67 064 0006 1 67 080 0054 0 67 064 0006 1 76 080 0162 0 76 064 0018 1 72 080 0054 0 72 064 0006 1 74 080 0108 0 74 064 0012 1 71 080 0108 0 71 064 0012 1 72 080 0108 0 72 064 0012 1 69 080 0108 0 69 064 0012 1 67 080 0162 0 67 064 0018 1 67 080 0054 0 67 064 0006 1 65 080 0108 0 65 064 0012 1 62 080 0108 0 62 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 67 080 0108 0 67 064 0012 1 60 080 0225 0 60 064
End
This program is worth the effort of learning it.
To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here
ABC format:
X:1
T:
M:2/4
Q:1/4=100
K:C
G8|c4B2B2|A2A2G2FF|F2D2G2G2|C4G4|c4B2B2|A2A2G2FF|
F2D2G2G2|C4GG3|C2D2E2F2|G2A2B2GG|c3cd2B2|
c6dd|e3cd2B2|c2A2G2GG|F2D2G2GG|C6GG|e3cd2B2|
c2A2G3G|F2D2G2G2|C4||
Regards,
Bob Bolton