095 - Drunken Sailor (B)


This shanty is a very well-known shanty, a typical example of the stamp-'n'-go song or walkaway or runaway shanty, and was the only type of work-song allowed in the King's Navee.
In latter days, in bigger ships with smaller crews, it was mainly used at braces when 'going about' or to hand aloft a light sail such as stays'l - in this latter case it would then be used as a hand-over-hand song.
"Shanties from the Seven Seas" by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 135).

Drunken Sailor B


What shall we do with'a drunken sailor?   x3
   - Earleye in the mornin!
   - Way, hay 'n' up she rises!                   x3
   - Earlye in the mornin!

                *2*
Put him in the long-boat till he gets sober.

               *3*
Keep him there an' make him bale her.

               *4*
Trice him up in a runnin' bowline.

               *5*
Tie him to the taffrail when she's yard-arm under.

               *6*
Put him in the scuppers with a hose-pipe on him.

               *7*
Take him an' shake 'im, an' try an' wake 'im.

               *8*
Give him a dose o' salt an' water.

               *9*
Give him a taste o' the bosun's rope-end.

               *10*
Stick on his back a mustard plaster.

               *11*
What'll we do with a Limejuice Skipper?

               *12*
Soak him in oil till he sprouts a flipper.

               *13*
Scrape the hair off his chest with a hoop-iron razor.

               *14*
What shall we do with a drunken solider?

               *15*
Put him in the guard room till he gets sober.

               *16*
What shall we do with the Queen o' Sheba?