Drunken Sailor

DRUNKEN SAILOR

Chorus

Way, hay and up she rises,

Earl-aye in the morning!

What will we do with the drunken sailor?

Earl-aye in the morning?

Sling him in the long boat till he's sober,

Keep him there and make 'im bale 'er.

Pull out the plug and wet him all over,

Take 'im and shake 'im, try an' wake 'im.

Trice him up in a runnin' bowline.

Give 'im a taste of the bosun's rope-end.

Give 'im a dose of salt and water.

Stick on 'is back a mustard plaster.

Shave his belly with a rusty razor.

Send him up the crow's nest till he falls down,

Tie him to the taffrail when she's yardarm under,

Put him in the scuppers with a hose-pipe on him.

Soak 'im in oil till he sprouts flippers.

Put him in the guard room till he's sober.

Put him in bed with the captain's daughter*).

Have you ever seen the captain's daughter?

Give the poor bastard to Mother Rackett.

Are ye' daft, you might wake Mother Rackett.

Take the Baby and call it Bo'sun.

Turn him over and drive him windward.

Put him in the scuffs until the horse bites on him.

Heave him by the leg and with a rung console him.

Hoist him aboard with a running bowline

Put him in the brig until he's sober.

Make him turn to at shining bright work.

Put him in a boat and row him over

Hoist him up to the topsail yardarm

Make him clean out all the spit-kids

Put a lobster in his britches

Kick him in the belly 'til he pukes his guts out

Then catch it in a bucket and make him drink it

What do ya do with a drunken pub wench?

Throw her in bed with a drunken minstrel

Put him in the bilge and let him drink it.

That's what we'll do with the drunken sailor.

Mark Johnson

Barry Taylor

The Burl Ives Song Book, The Book of Navy Songs, http://ingeb.org/songs/whatshal.html, Shanties of the Seven Seas