Drunken Sailor

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What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor? is a famous traditional sea shanty also known as Drunken Sailor or What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?. It is now rarely called by its other name Sailor’s Holiday.

Contents

1 History
2 Origins
3 Lyrics
4 Notable examples
5 References
6 Further reading

History

Drunken Sailor was a sea shanty (work song) often sung when raising a sail or raising the anchor, which is the reference for “Up She Rises” in the song’s chorus. Such songs were the only ones allowed in the Royal Navy. Most often, only two or three verses were sung but verses were often added until the task was completed.

Origins

The air was taken from a traditional Irish dance and march tune, "Óró, Sé do Bheatha Bhaile" (Translated as "Óró, you are welcome home") and is in the dorian mode. The same tune has also been used for other songs, notably Ten Little Injuns.

The music was first reproduced in printed form in 1824–25 in Cole’s Selection of Favourite Cotillions published in Baltimore. However, the lyrics were first published in 1891 under the title "What to do with a Drunken Sailor?" Another version from 1921 was subtitled Windlass and Capstan and collected and edited by R. R. Terry.

Lyrics

It is often said that there are as many versions of the lyrics as there are drunken sailors. Note that "early" is often pronounced as "earl-i"

Intro: What shall we do with the drunken sailor, (3×); Early in the morning?
Chorus: Hoo–ray/Wey–hey and up she rises, (3×); Early in the morning.
1: Put him in the longboat ’til he’s sober, (3×); Early in the morning.
2: Pull out the plug and wet him all over, (3×); Early in the morning.
3: Put him in the scuppers with a hosepipe/hawsepipe on him, (3×); Early in the morning.
4: Heave him by the leg in a running bowline, (3×); Early in the morning.
5: Tie him to the taffrail when she’s yardarm under, (3×); Early in the morning.
6: Trough him in the brig untill he's sober, (3×); Early in the morning.
7: Threaten him with sharks till he's sober, (3×); Early in the morning.

Outro

That’s what we’ll do with a drunken sailor, (3×)

Early in the morning.

Some more bawdy verses also exist:

8: Shave his belly/head/legs/balls with a rusty razor, (3×); Early in the morning.
9: Put him in bed with the captain’s daughter, (3×); Early in the morning.

(It should be noted that this last verse is not quite as risque as it sounds; the "captain's daughter" does not refer to a woman or girl, but instead to the cat o' nine tails; this verse is suggesting that the drunken sailor be flogged).

Notable examples

The song has been widely recorded under a number of titles by a range of performers including Great Big Sea, the King's Singers, James Last, The Swingle Singers, the Brobdingnagian Bards, and Pete Seeger. It also forms part of a contrapuntal section in the BBC Radio 4 UK Theme by Fritz Spiegl, in which it is played alongside Greensleeves.

The music has also been used by the National Football League in their films. In 2005, Toyota used the music in a television campaign in the US.

An instrumental version of this song has been used often on Spongebob Squarepants.

This song also made an appearance in the episode "Bad Water" of SeaQuest DSV.

Gypsy sings this song during , in the skit where Mike Nelson wrecks the Hubble telescope.

Truman sings the beginning of the song in the scene where Christof "accesses the weather programme" to try and force Truman to return to Seahaven Island in The Truman Show.

In a level of the video game , a waiter can be heard singing and humming the song while he showers in a staff room of a mansion, where Agent 47 can steal his uniform as a disguise.

In the 2004 version of the computer game Sid Meier's Pirates!, your ship's crew starts playing the tune whenever you are victorious in a naval battle.

References