Lyrics to the song "Drunken Sailor i.e. 'hose-pipe meaning'..." [closed]

Solution 1:

Like "The Quartermaster's Store" and "North Atlantic Squadron", this song is generally sung by groups of people, typically with each taking a turn singing the next verse.

In the case of "Drunken Sailor", there is only one line that changes each time, so the challenge when it's passed to the next person sitting around the campfire (or pub table or wherever) is to come up with a line different from the ones that have already been sung, preferably one that's witty or even ribald.

Given that the singers are themselves very drunk or very tired, their line will likely be (mis)remembered from a previous event and occasionally perhaps even be something original.

Part of the fun of these songs is that there are no official lyrics, anything goes. You're just siting there, the group asks you "what shall we do with the drunken sailor?" and then you have to spontaneously improvise a suitable answer.

Here's part of a description of the "North Atlantic Squadron" song:

Part of the festivities, after the ladies had left, consisted of a contest — making up verses to an old tune somebody thumped out on a piano. The basic object of the exercise seems to have been to think up the nastiest possible opinion of every group of people found on the base. The prize for a successful verse was a case of beer. A couple of dozen cases later the song, essentially but not exactly as it is here, was complete. From that beginning the song spread around the world, carried by the aircrews of the thousands of aircraft that used Gander as an international airport in the war years.

— "Songs from the Front & Rear" by Anthony Hopkins, 1979, p. 52, ISBN 0-88830-171-5.

These verses represent the kinds of lyrics most usually associated with the North Atlantic Squadron. Exotic locales, eccentric sexual activities parade by without much hint of order or organization. To make them into a longer "North Atlantic Squadron" (a song of potentially infinite length, given inventive singers), add some of the more general verses from the previous Gander version, plus a few of the more notorious crew members from "Good Ship Venus" […], one or two from […], perhaps even a sampling from […]. Then make up three or four more on the spot. Any total of verses past 18 or 20 will produce a "North Atlantic Squadron" of acceptable length and intriguing variety.

— Ibid, p. 55.

The recent Netflix film, "Fisherman's Friends" contains a similar (but unfortunately interrupted) scene with the "Drunken Sailor" song: Fisherman's Friends - Drunken Sailor. - YouTube

(Interestingly, the Cornish accent of the people in that film closely resembles Gander's Newfoundland accent. Perhaps not surprising given that both are noted for fishing, and Cornwall and Newfoundland are the two closest points between England and Canada.)

The most popular or memorable verses are the ones that end up on recordings, but it's hardly surprising that one group's recording would be different from the next.