G'day again,

While looking at Click Go The Shears, I came across this 1950's parody - explanations included in posting. This might be another to interest Charlie Noble - another, (~) modern day sailor's view.:

EIGHT BELLS
[Words: Merv Lilley (>1956)]
Tune: Ring the Bell, Watchman

Down in the engine room The old greaser stands,
Striking the bell With a steel in his hands.
Fixed is his gaze On the fiddley now and then,
At last he sees them coming; Six firemen.

Chorus: Ring the bell, greaser; Ring it on the dot.
While you swing that oil can The bearings won't run hot.
Feel around the bearings,; See that they are cool.
Every forty minutes is the Old greaser's rule.

The firemen are working; There's fires on the plates.
When the steam is on the blood, Then everyone is mates.
The Trimmer in the bunkers Is tipping down the slack.
If he doesn't trim his quota, He won't be coming back.

An A.B. is on the lookout, And one is at the wheel.
Every time he slews her, We feel a sudden keel.
The day workers are chipping; They make a dreadful noise
That interferes with sleeping, Brings curses from the boys.

The chief cook and the second Are busy cooking tea.
As soon as they get finished, It's come and drink with me.
The Stewards are all busy Serving to the mates.
The way they keep them happy Is by filling up their plates.

The Skipper is the big boss; Then next comes the Chief,
So carry out their orders Or they'll tear up your brief.
Square up the rigging; Let the shore lines go.
You're heading now for Sydney, The best place that we know.


I came across this in the Chips off The Old Block section in , vol. 1, #2, p.6, Autumn 1956. This section was introduced in the previous (first) issue as a place for new sets of words (perhaps for old tunes) – in line with the Bush Music Club's aims to not only collect old songs, but to encourage a continuing tradition of contemporary song. Click Go The Shears or else Ring The Bell, Watchman was obviously just as popular then, since the very first issue had another song set to the tune: Swish Goes The Crane, in which a West Australian Wharfy (wharf labourer / stevedore) tells of the perils off shift bosses trying to raise production rates with no regard for safety.

That same first issue had another section Introducing …, which profiled active Club members – starting with Merv Lilley:

36 year-old seaman on the coastal and Island ships, Merv writes a poem a day, just for practice. "Out of so much milk" he says "some cream must rise to the top." Represented in this issue by Cane Killed Abel, Merv also wrote Ho! Give a Fair Go! which appeared as a Bushwhacker Broadside and had just been recorded by Wallaby.

A North Queenslander by birth, he has tried his hand at all kinds of work, including wool-pressing and cane-cutting. Merv is an enthusiastic supporter of The Bush Music Club's collective song-writing sessions where new songs are tried out and alterations and additions are suggested by members. It was at such workshops that his two published songs assumed their present forms. Since he joined the Club, Merv Lilley has become an enthusiastic student of the traditional bush ballad, upon which many of his later poems are based.

Regards,

Bob Bolton