What a great thread!

My beef isn't exactly the songs but the singers. The Clancys (but not only the Clancys) are bad about this: all shantys are turned into capstan shantys (shanties?) because they want a hard driving rhythm.

Somebody groused about "The Happy Wanderer". Is that the one that goes:

We love to go a-wanderung

Along the Zuyder zee,

And as we go, we laugh and throw

Our friends into the sea.