Last Shanty
- Tom Lewis

M' father often told me, when I was just a lad,
A sailor's life was very hard, the food was always bad,
But now I've joined the navy, I'm on board a man-o-war,
And now I find a sailor ain't a sailor any more!

(chorus)

Don't haul on the rope, don't climb up the mast,
If you see a sailing-ship it might be your last,
Get your 'civvies ready for another run-ashore,
A sailor ain't a sailor, ain't a sailor any more!

The 'killick' of our mess, he says we've had it soft,
It wasn't like this in his day, when he was up aloft,
We like our bunks and sleeping-bags but what's a hammock for?
Swinging from the deckhead or lying on the floor?

(chorus)

They gave us an engine that first went up and down,
Then with more technology the engine went around,
We're good with steam and diesel but what's a mainyard for?
A stoker ain't a stoker with a shovel any more!

(chorus)

They gave us an Aldiss Lamp, we can do it right,
They gave us a radio, we signal day and night,
We know our codes and ciphers but what's a 'sema' for?
A 'bunting-tosser' doesn't toss the bunting any more!

(chorus)

They gave us a radar set to pierce the fog and gloom,
So now the lookout's sitting in a tiny darkened room,
Loran does navigation the Sonar says how deep,
The Jimmy's 3 sheets to the wind, the Skipper's fast asleep.

(chorus)

Two cans of beer a day, that's your bleeding lot!
But now we gets an extra one because they stopped The Tot,
So, we'll put on our civvy-clothes and find a pub ashore,
A sailor's still a sailor, just like he was before!

(chorus)




*Also known as "A Sailor Ain't A Sailor"

The Lark in the Morning
- traditional

(chorus)
The lark in the morning
She rises off her nest
She goes home in the evening with the dew all on her breast
And like the jolly ploughboy
She whistles and she sings
She goes home in the evening with the dew all on her wings

 Oh Roger the ploughboy, he is a dashing blade
He goes whistling and singing over yonder green blade
He met with pretty Susan, she's handsome I declare
She is far more inviting tha the birds all in the air

(chorus)

One evening coming home from the rakes of the town
The meadows they are green and the grass it is cut down
If I should chance to tumble all in the new mown hay
For it's kiss me now or never love, this bonny lass did say

(chorus)

When twenty long weeks they were over and were past
Her mammy chanced to notice how she thickened around the waist
It was the handsome ploughboy the maiden she did say
For he caused me for to tumble all in the new mown hay

(chorus)

Here's a health to young ploughboys wherever you may be
That likes to have a bonny lass asitting on his knee
With a jug of good strong porter you'll whistle and you'll sing
For a ploughboy is happy as a prince or a king

(chorus)

Let Me Fish Off Cape St. Mary's
- Otto P. Kelland

Take me back to my western boat
Let me fish off Cape St. Mary's
Where the hog-down sail
And the Fog horns wail
With my friends the Browns and the Clearys
Let me fish off Cape St. Mary's

Let me feel my dory lift
To the broad Atlantic combers
Where the tide rips swirl and the wild ducks whirl
Where Old Neptune calls the number
'Neath the broad Atlantic combers...

Let me sail up Golden Bay
With my oilskins all a'streamin'...
From the thunder squall —when I hauled me trawl
And my old Cape Ann a gleamin'
With my oil skins all a'streamin'...

Let me view that rugged shore,
Where the beach is all a-glisten
With the Caplin spawn where from dusk to dawn
You bait your trawl and listen
To the undertow a-hissin'.

When I reach that last big shoal
Where the ground swells break asunder,
Where the wild sands roll to the surges toll.
Let me be a man and take it
When my dory fails to make it.

Take me back to that snug green cove
Where the seas roll up their thunder.
There let me rest in the earth's cool Breast
Where the stars shine out their wonder -
And the seas roll up their thunder.



Lukey's Boat
- traditional

Oh, Lukey's boat is painted green,

A-ha, me b'ys!
Oh, Lukey's boat is painted green,
The finest boat you've ever seen,
A-ha, me riddle-I-day!

Oh, Lukey's boat got cotton sails,

A-ha, me b'ys!
Oh, Lukey's boat got cotton sails,
And planks put on with brand new nails,
A-ha, me riddle-I-day!

Oh, Lukey's rolling out his grub,

A-ha, me b'ys!
Oh, Lukey's rolling out his grub,
A barrel, a bag, and a ten pound tub,
A-ha, me riddle-I-day!

Oh, Lukey he sailed down the shore,

A-ha, me b'ys!
Oh, Lukey he sailed down the shore,
To catch some fish from Labrador,
A-ha, me riddle-I-day!

Oh, Lukey he looked all around,

A-ha, me b'ys!
Oh, Lukey he looked all around,
"My wife is dead; the blinds are down!",
A-ha, me riddle-I-day!

"Oh, ho," says Lukey, "I don't care",

A-ha, me b'ys!
"Oh, ho," says Lukey, "I don't care,
I'll get another in the fall of the year."
A-ha, me riddle-I-day!



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