The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #126659   Message #3015961
Posted By: Charley Noble
26-Oct-10 - 12:51 PM
Thread Name: 'New' Sea Songs & Shanties & Nautical Songs
Subject: Lyr Add: SEA CHANTY (Abe Burrows)
Here's a humorous take on the traditional sea shanty by Abe Burrows that I haven't run across before:

By Abe Burrows (1910-1984), © 1955 Abram S. Burrows, William Morris Agency
From THE SEA, SHIPS AND SAILORS, edited by William Cole,
The Viking Press, New York, © 1967, pp. 122-123

SEA CHANTY

Our ship is leaving Portsmouth town,
Her name's the good ship Nancy Brown.

Yo ho,
Jib the boom,
Poop the deck,
Rattle the hatch,
Main the sail,
Pepper the mints,
Anchors aweigh in the morn.

Oh, we'll be sailing with the tide,
We've said farewell to our girls and brides,

Yo ho,
Rig the ratch,
Hoist the hitch,
Bury the hatchet,,
Poop the deck,
Beat the breeze,
That she blows in the morn.

And soon we'll ne out on the ocean foam,
So let's heave ho with a will,
And come, jolly tars, let's sing while we can,
For soon we'll be deathly ill!

For there's nothing life the life of a sailor,
Sailing on the briny foam,
With a good stout ship beneath your feet,
And a good stout wife at home.

Oh, there's nothing, nothing, nothing like a sailor's life,
The sailor's life is grand,
Oh, I'd never give up the sea unless
You offered me a job on land.

So it's three jolly cheers for the sea,
And a fond farewell to dry land,
So up with the anchor and we won't set it down
Till we reach old Coney Island!

Singing yo ho,
Hit the deck,
Follow the fleet,
Anchor's aweigh,
Scuttle the butt,
Roll the dice,
Deal the cards,
Pepper the mints,
We're sailing away on the sea.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble