Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)

17 Apr 06 - 08:50 PM (#1720662)
Subject: Lyr Add: 'Every Good Ship Has A Mainmast' chanty
From: John M.

Here is a recording of "Every Good Ship Has A Mainmast". This is sung by John W. Herbert on 15 April 2006. He learned this during WWII.

EVERY GOOD SHIP HAS A MAIN MAST (recording)

Every good ship has a mainmast, an upstanding stick.
Every young girl likes a young man with an upstanding

Hoist away the main t'gallants'l
While the good ship lies steadily,
Every young girl likes another man
When her young man's at sea!

Every good ship has a longboat, a longboat has rollicks.
Every young girl likes a young man with a HUGE pair of

Every good ship has a bowsprit, and the bowsprit's out in front.
Every young girl likes a young man who tickles her

Every good ship has a tops'l, and the tops'l's up aloft.
Every young girl HATES a young man who [?thumps it in]

"Now that is obviously a very old song. One time, John, coming back from Gibraltar in an assault carrier, a small carrier, we were coming back from the Mediterranean and we called in at Gibraltar and we picked up the Governor of Gibraltar, who was a very ancient man, he must have been seventy or eighty, and he - instead of dining with the captain - he stayed with the junior officers in the wardroom. And he had a repertoire of very old songs. And I only remember one. And it's a song that goes back to sailing days, long, long before we had powered ships. And.I don't know if you're familiar with the rigging of a square-rigged ship, but you know a lot of them had three masts : a forem'st, a mainm'st, and a mizzenm'st. And any sail on the mainm'st was called a mains'l. the big sail was called a mains'l, and all the sails going up, the sails as they got smaller had different names. And right at the top was the tops'l - the topsail. And above that was the t'gallants'l. And he sang a song about the topgallants'l. And it employed that very, very old device of never mentioning the bad word."

The transcription above is courtesy of Lighter.

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17 Apr 06 - 10:10 PM (#1720723)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Every Good Ship Has A Mainmast' chanty
From: Charley Noble

Very nice!

Never ran across this one.

Charley Noble

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18 Apr 06 - 12:01 AM (#1720795)
Subject: Lyr Add: 'Every Good Ship Has A Mainmast' shanty
From: John M.

From folktrax:

EVERY GOOD SHIP - "has a mainmast, a stiff standing
stick" etc "Every maid likes a young man with a SS Prick"
Ch: "Slack away your reef and tackle - sheets they are jammed" -
Bawdy Sea Shantey - HUGILL SSS 1961 p503 - ED&S
mag 41/1 1979 p18 note by Mike Yates -- DOERFLINGER
1951 p165 "Let go your reef & tackle" (ch only) - see "HOIST
AWAY YOUR TOPSAIL" in McCOLL/SEEGER Ben
Bright p14 ("All ships have a mainsail")

From the Gordon "Inferno" Collection:

365 November 10, 1924

Every ship has a capstan, has a capstan, has a capstan,
Every good ship has a capstan and a capstan has pawls
And every young girl likes a young man
With a big pair of balls.
Sheet out your main t'gan't'sail, your main t'gan't' sail,
your main t'gan't' sail,
Sheet out your main topgallant sail and let the good ship go free,
(request)

J. N. West

I assume that the "request" items in the "Inferno" are fragments of songs of which the full song is being requested.

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09 Jun 08 - 09:18 PM (#2361962)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Jack Horntip

From the 1927 unexpurgated book Immortalia. pages 62-3:

THE SHIP'S IN THE HARBOR
Anonymous

Oh, the ship's in the harbor,
She lies by the dock,
Like a young girl and a young man
With a stiff standing—
—haul away for the mainsail,
The main-top-set-sail,
Haul away for the mainsail,
The main-top-set-sail.

And there was young Johnny,
The pride of her crew,
Who liked to drink whiskey
And also to—
—water the garden when
He was at home,
Water the garden when
He was at home.

He could dive like a diver,
He could swim like a duck,
He could show the young ladies
A new way to—
—save their sweet lives if
A cramp they should take,
Save their sweet lives if
A cramp they should take.

But alas, we put it in at
A far Northern port,
And he froze it in chasing
And broke it off—

62


—half way to Juneau,
And half way to Nome,
Half way to Juneau,
And half way to Nome.

Oh, the ship's in the harbor,
She lies by the dock,
But alas for poor Johnny,
He has no more—
—yardarm to splice with,
Or topmast to brace,
Yardarm to splice with,
Or topmast to brace.

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Ed Cray in his Erotic Muse pg 60, says that the song is similar to the song "Follow the Band" (aka "My Father's a Mason"). See here:

http://books.google.com/books?q=%22Every+ship+has+a+capstan%22&btnG=Search+Books

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09 Jun 08 - 10:09 PM (#2361987)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Charley Noble

Nice to have some more references.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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17 Jun 08 - 10:57 PM (#2368422)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: GUEST,Lighter

The late Bruce Olson unearthed the "original" - from about 1690!:

A ship load of Wagery.
[English Broadside, c 1685-92]
To a new Tune. Or Ah Chloris awake.

A ship must have a steersman
to steer her Course true,
And a Maid must have a Youngman
to give her her --- Top and Top gallant
A ship she sails trimly
Maids, if they be not pleased
They'l frown and look grimly.

A Ship must have Rudder
to steer in the dark,
And a Maid must have a youngman
to hit at her --- Top and Top gallant.
A ship she sails, &c.

A Ship must have a Cannon
to keep off her foes,
And a Maid must have a youngman
to take up her --- Top and Top gallant.
A ship she sails, &c.

A ship must have a Bowsprit,
with a Sprizin a cross,
And a maid must have a youngman
with a swinging long --- Top and Top gallant
A ship she sails trimly,
Maids if they be not pleased,
They'l frown and look grimly.

A Ship must have a Buntlin
to hawl up her Bunt
A maid must have a youngman
to tickle her --- Top and Top gallant.
A ship she sails trimly, &c.

A Ship must have a Mast; a long,
strong, and straight Stick,
And a maid must have a youngman
with a long lusty --- Top and Top gallant.
A ship she sails trimly, &c.

A Ship mus be well Victual'd
with Meat without Bones,
And a maid would have a youngman
with a stout pair of --- top and top gallant
A Ship she sails trimly, &c.

A Ship should have a Captain
her Men to command
And a maid would have a youngman
to have his P--- , top and top gallant
A ship she, &c.

A Ship should have a Master
to take in her freights,
And a maid would have a youngman
to sail in her --- top and top gallant
A ship she sails, &c.

When a Ship is under sail
we do wish her good luck,
And a maid under a youngman
We wish her a good --- top and top gallant
A ship she, &c.

When a Ship comes into Port
she must enter her Cockpit,
When a youngman come to'th fort
he must enter, and --- top and top gallant
A ship she sails trimly, &c.

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30 May 09 - 02:38 PM (#2644283)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Gibb Sahib

Lighter wrote

The late Bruce Olson unearthed the "original" - from about 1690!:

Ah! This is what first came to mind when I started checking out Hugill's "Slack Away Yer Reefy Tayckle." By chance, I had recorded "A Ship-load of Waggery" for the UC Santa Barbara's English Ballad Broadside Archive.
(I am a bit embarrassed by the actual recording; it was run off quite spuriously along with a set of other ballads all with the "Ah Cloris!" air, with the mainly-functional purpose of rapidly logging in realizations of the many broadside texts. I was also cracking up laughing as I was singing, and the recordist had to leave the room eventually so I could compose myself!)

Here is a link to the ballad (link to tune at left side): A Ship-load of Waggery

And because I am hard-pressed to find a recording of "Reefy Tayckle," here's that one:
Slack Away Yer Reefy Tackle

Thanks for this thread, very informative.
Gibb

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31 May 09 - 11:19 AM (#2644857)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Charley Noble

Well, that would certainly brighten up our set list.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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31 May 09 - 12:51 PM (#2644933)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: EBarnacle

It would appear that many of the original rhymes have gone out of common usage, even among us archaists.

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01 Jun 09 - 08:36 AM (#2645493)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Charley Noble

Well, riddle me this:

A ship must have a Bowsprit,
with a Sprizin across,
And a maid must have a youngman
with a swinging long --- Top and Top gallant
A ship she sails trimly...

We might as well try to decode this old chestnut. Any suggestions?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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01 Jun 09 - 08:10 PM (#2645985)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Gibb Sahib

I'm stumped.

??
hose
horse
joss = joss-stick = prick (a bit of anachronistic rhyming slang that I just made up!)

Whatever it is, it's likely that it doesn't rhyme with "cross" as we now pronounce it. Keep the possibilities open for a range of different vowels, and even an 'r' thrown in there.

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01 Jun 09 - 09:04 PM (#2646022)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Charley Noble

Gibb-

"Ho'se" might be the answer, as an indirect reference to a stallion's large member.

Charley Noble

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01 Jun 09 - 09:23 PM (#2646028)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Lighter

I suggest "tarse," the usual early English term. It was often printed "T---e."

People had pretty much quit using it (I mean the word) by 1800.

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01 Jun 09 - 10:47 PM (#2646088)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Charley Noble

Lighter-

Welcome to this erudite discussion!

You certainly have nailed this one, "tarse" being an old English slang word for male genitals. My classmates had lots of slang words for male genitals but they never came up with that one, and many of them were from ancient Scotch-Irish (not necessarily English of course!) families.

Shall we try this verse:

A Ship should have a Captain
her Men to command
And a maid would have a youngman
to have his P--- ...

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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02 Jun 09 - 09:43 AM (#2646424)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Lighter

Easy one, Charley.

"P---- stand."

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03 Jun 09 - 08:43 AM (#2647289)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Charley Noble

Ah, I was assuming that it was the "p" word that had to rhyme.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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03 Jun 09 - 10:23 AM (#2647360)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Tug the Cox

Prick to upstand?

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03 Jun 09 - 04:11 PM (#2647631)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Gibb Sahib

That last one is funky because I'm not sure how you'd sing it to give the clue for the intended word. Would you just sing a 'p' sound, or...?

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03 Jun 09 - 04:44 PM (#2647665)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Lighter

Not sure I understand the Q., but the dashes are simply a printing convention. All the words must have been sung, or so it seems to me.

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03 Jun 09 - 05:25 PM (#2647703)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: curmudgeon

If you're looking to a proper scan, try using for "P____" a two syllable word like pintle, pillie, pego, all found in the glossary of Legman's edition of the Merry Muses.

There's lots of fine old words that we've forgotten, but have not yet lost - Tom

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03 Jun 09 - 06:42 PM (#2647742)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chant
From: Gibb Sahib

Not sure I understand the Q., but the dashes are simply a printing convention. All the words must have been sung, or so it seems to me.

My understanding is that they are not to be sung, rather implied, and that is the fun of it. This is the way of the two sea songs, "Every Good Ship..." and "Slack Away..." Besides, if they were to be sung, then the above previous example would have been printed as "t---e," I think.

Guessing here -- the "Top and Top Gallant" phrase might be an equivalent to those censor "bleeps" that one hears on TV.

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04 Jun 09 - 05:18 AM (#2647996)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Tug the Cox

Yes, Gibb, you're right. The bit I wrote would have been innediately drowned out by the chorus.

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04 Jun 09 - 09:56 AM (#2648161)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Lighter

A better possibility, perhaps, is that no part of the omitted words was to be sung at all, and that the printing of the initial letter was only to suggest what was intended to the possibly insufficiently imaginative purchaser of the sheet.

The song is sung that way today, but that doesn't mean it was necessarily sung that way over 300 years ago.

At any rate, the appearance of dashes would tell the broadside customer immediately that the song was somehow naughty, thus attracting his or her attention.

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16 Nov 10 - 09:20 AM (#3033477)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: shipcmo

refresh

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12 Jun 18 - 04:43 PM (#3930556)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: GUEST,Grills

I've been struggling with this for a while, what the heck rhymes with "aloft" ???

Every good ship has a tops'l, and the tops'l's up aloft.
Every young girl HATES a young man who [?thumps it in]

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12 Jun 18 - 05:26 PM (#3930559)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Snuffy

I'd guess the rhyming word is "soft"

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22 Oct 23 - 07:39 AM (#4184246)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Tug the Cox

When a good ship is under full sail
We wish her good luck
when a young girl's under a young man
We wish her a good....

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22 Oct 23 - 07:39 AM (#4191360)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Tug the Cox

When a good ship is under full sail
We wish her good luck
when a young girl's under a young man
We wish her a good....

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22 Oct 23 - 10:29 AM (#4191359)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Steve Gardham

Interesting thread. Simply because I haven't seen the word used here I add it. These are well-known in folklore circles as 'teasing songs or rhymes'. They are quite common in bawdry and British children have a good repertoire of them.

There one was a lady who walked like a duck,
Who said she'd invented a new way to ...
Educate children etc.

Usually there is no metric gap for the rhyme word, it progresses straight into the first word of the next line.

There must surely be a separate thread for examples of these. I'm sure I've contributed some before now.

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22 Oct 23 - 10:29 AM (#4184262)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Steve Gardham

Interesting thread. Simply because I haven't seen the word used here I add it. These are well-known in folklore circles as 'teasing songs or rhymes'. They are quite common in bawdry and British children have a good repertoire of them.

There one was a lady who walked like a duck,
Who said she'd invented a new way to ...
Educate children etc.

Usually there is no metric gap for the rhyme word, it progresses straight into the first word of the next line.

There must surely be a separate thread for examples of these. I'm sure I've contributed some before now.

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30 Oct 23 - 11:22 AM (#4184787)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Tug the Cox

As I was walking by St Pauls, a lady grabbed me by the
Arm, she said you look a man of pluck, come inside and have a
Ham sandwich. Threepence, sixpence or a bob, all according to the size of....... your sandwich.

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30 Oct 23 - 11:22 AM (#4191361)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Tug the Cox

As I was walking by St Pauls, a lady grabbed me by the
Arm, she said you look a man of pluck, come inside and have a
Ham sandwich. Threepence, sixpence or a bob, all according to the size of....... your sandwich.

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26 Apr 25 - 08:15 PM (#4221648)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Jack Horntip

Every ship has a cabin
Every cabin has doors
Every sailor likes a nice girl
With nice pretty drawers.
Lower away your main t'gallant sail
Lower away your main t'gallant sail
You son of a whore.

"Every verse takes another part of the ship and a
catholic taste in adjectives.--A fragment collected by
a friend of mine in the dockyard end of London. The tune
of the shanty was a variant of the German student song,
'Gradaus den Wirtzhaus'."

E. Anderson

c1927. The Gordon Inferno Collection. Text #3729. Notable for naming a tune.


See here: https://archive.org/details/1917gordoninfernocollection/page/n172/mode/1up

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27 Apr 25 - 10:01 AM (#4221664)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Jack Horntip

I can't find a "Gradaus den Wirtzhaus" song. A Latin song of "Gaudeamus igitur" was known and sung at this time.

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27 Apr 25 - 12:12 PM (#4221680)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Lighter

Hugill's tune seems to be adjusted from "Ach, Du Lieber, Augustin."

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05 Jun 25 - 04:05 PM (#4223787)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Jack Horntip

Ballad Index entry:https://balladindex.org/Ballads/BrE2062.html

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Every Good Ship

DESCRIPTION: "Every good ship has a" x, every x has y, "every young girl likes a young man"; the fourth line hides a rhyme with y. For example: x is "poop deck", y is "bits" and the fourth line is "to play with her"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart2)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor sex bawdy nonballad wordplay
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart2 62, "Every Good Ship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #23536
File: BrE2062

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05 Jun 25 - 04:23 PM (#4223788)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Jack Horntip

Roud entry: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:combined/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr:23536

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05 Jun 25 - 04:28 PM (#4223790)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Jack Horntip

Manuscript of the song from Percy Grainger Folk Song Collection,
Royston Clifford's Chanties, "Every Ship", 10 Jul 1908 (?)


See here: https://archives.vwml.org/records/PG/13/4

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10 Jun 25 - 08:27 AM (#4223985)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Jack Horntip

SLACK AWAY YER REEFY TAYCKLE

Ev'ry good ship has an anchor, Ev'ry anchor has a shank
Any boy'll chase a maiden if she's money in the . . .

        Slack away yer reefy tayckle, reefy tayckle, reefy tayckle,
        Slack away yer reefy tayckle, me sheets they are jammed

Every good ship has a lifeboat, every lifeboat caries oars,
Every boy forgets the maiden left on foreign ----
        Ch. Slack away, etc.

Every good ship has a side liht, every sidelight has a screen
Every boy forgets the maiden left on the village ----

Every good ship has a mains'l, every mains'l has a clew,
Every maiden loves a sailor rigged in navy ----

Every good ship that goes alongside, makes fast to the quay,
Every girl likes a sailor who spends fast and ----

....The omission of the last word of each stanza is correct, but I have had to use
a different word at the end of each first line, and camouflage each second line a little..

Shanties from the seven seas by Hugill


See here: https://archive.org/details/shantiesfromseve0000unse/page/503/mode/1up?q=%22Every+maiden+loves+a+sailor%22

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10 Jun 25 - 08:38 AM (#4223986)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Jack Horntip

Second ballad entry: https://balladindex.org/Ballads/Doe165.html

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Let Go the Reef Tackle

DESCRIPTION: The ship sails out the channel as the sailor cries out, "Let go the reef tay-ckle, Let go the reef tay-ckle, Let go the reef tay-ckle, My sheets they are jammed."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips)
KEYWORDS: sailor work
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Doerflinger-SongsOfTheSailorAndLumberman, p. 165, "Let Go the Reef Tackle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 170-171, "Let Go the Reefy Tackle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, p. 503, "Slack Away Yer Reefy Tayckle" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 371]
Roud #9145
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Let Go the Peak Halyards" (form)
File: Doe165

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2025 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

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10 Jun 25 - 08:52 AM (#4223987)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Every Good Ship Has a Mainmast (chantey)
From: Jack Horntip

So two ballad entries and, of course, two Roud #'s:


        Roud #9145 and Roud #23536

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