The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #47700   Message #4226956
Posted By: Charley Noble
09-Aug-25 - 08:56 PM
Thread Name: Is it me or is Shakespeare very strange
Subject: RE: Is it me or is Shakespeare very strange
Stilly River Sage,

I would eventually gotten around to providing the link to Pete Seeger's rendition of "Full Fathom Five" but I got distracted by a song that is raised in The Tempest:

"The Master, The Swabber, The Boatswain and I"

I've extended the lyrics a bit so it now reads:

From The Tempest by William Shakespeare, as sung by Stephano, 1611
Adapted by Charlie Ipcar, 7/31/2025; tune after "The Mariner's Compass is Grog"
Key: G (7/C)

The Master, The Swabber, The Bosun, And I

C----------------------------------G7
The master, the swabber, the bosun, and I,
------C--------------------F---C--G
The gunner, the cook, and the mate,
---------C-----------------------G7
Loved Molly, and Meg, and Margery,
-------C----------G----------C
But none of us cared for Kate.

C------------------------F---------C
None of us cared for Kate, me lads!
--------F-C---------F/C-G
None of us cared for Kate!
---------C-----------------------G7
Loved Molly, and Meg, and Margery,
-------C----------G----------C
But none of us cared for Kate.

Kate loved not the savour of tar nor pitch;
And she had a tongue with a tang;
Yet a tailor might scratch her where’er she did itch,
But she'd cry to a sailor, "Go hang!"

She'd cry to a sailor, "Go hang!" me lads!
She'd cry to a sailor, "Go hang!"
Yet a tailor might scratch her where’er she did itch,
But she'd cry to a sailor, "Go hang!"

So Molly, and Meg, and Margery,
We’re off to sea once more;
And it will be a long, long time
Till we return to your shore.

Till we return to your shore, me loves,
Till we return to your shore;
And it will be a long, long time
Till we return to your shore.

When I manage to record it I'llprovide a link but it's still a work in progress.