John Short gave it Cecil Sharp (in 1914) as a Capstan shanty & titled it Times Are Hard and Wages Low (but Sharp aften came up with 'different' titles). Sharp's notes read: "This chantey was usually sung when getting into port, the chantey-man seizing this opportunity to express the crew's dissatisfaction with the ship they were about to leave, which, Mr. Bullen says, was very often fully justified. Mr. Short's variant, which is the usual form of the air, is very similar to the versions printed by Bullen (No. 9) and Tozer (No. 5). [No. 3 is a variant.]."

Short's words were:
Times are hard and the wages low (x2)
My old mother she wrote to me (x2)
I've got no money and I've got no clothes (x2)
I will send you money I will send ou clothes (x2)
We'll leave her when we get on dock (x2)
O, a leaking ship and a carping crew (x2)

Short's version is on the Short Sharp Shanties vol.2 CD which is being released towards the end of this month - lead by Jeff Warner.

TomB