Drunken Sailor

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

Contents

[edit] 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.

[edit] Origins

The air was taken from a traditional Irish dance and march tune, "Oró 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.

[edit] 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-eye"

Intro
What shall we do with the drunken sailor, (3×)
Early in the morning?
Chorus
Hoo–ray/Wey–hey/Heave-ho and up she rises, (3×)
Early in the morning.
Verses
Put him in the longboat ’til he’s sober, (3×)
Early in the morning.
Pull out the plug and wet him all over, (3×)
Early in the morning.
Leave him there and make him bale 'er, (3×)
Early in the morning.
Put him in the scuppers with a hosepipe/hawsepipe on him, (3×)
Early in the morning.
Heave him by the leg in a running bowline, (3×)
Early in the morning.
Tie him to the taffrail when she’s yardarm under, (3×)
Early in the morning.
Throw him in the brig until he's sober, (3×)
Early in the morning.
Threaten him with sharks till he's sober, (3×)
Early in the morning.
Keelhaul him, keelhaul him (3x)
Early in the morning.
Put him in the bilge and make him drink it (3x)
Early in the morning.
Rub him really smooth until he guffaws (3x)
Early in the morning.
Run him up the mast with the Jolly Roger (3x)
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:

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

(the 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).

[edit] Notable examples

The song has been widely recorded under a number of titles by a range of performers including Dschinghis Khan, Great Big Sea, the King's Singers, James Last, The Swingle Singers, the Brobdingnagian Bards, the LeperKhanz, Pete Seeger, and Captain Bogg and Salty. 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. It has also been recorded by David Thomas and features on the 2006 release Rogue's Gallery, a collection of Pirate Ballads and Sea Shanties inspired by Pirates of the Carribean 2.

The British composer Percy Grainger incorporated the song and lyrics into his song setting "Scotch Strathspey And Reel."

The main theme from the first movement of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, Op. 102, mimics the song.

The British composer Sir Malcolm Arnold used the song as the first movement to his "Three Shanties" for woodwind quintet.

Don Janse produced a particularly artistic arrangement in the early 1960's which has been included in several choral music anthologies. The arrangement was first recorded by The Idlers. This arrangement has been performed by several collegiate groups over the years, including the Yale Alley Cats on their Live from Europe Album.

[edit] In popular culture

The song has appeared in many productions including advertising, television programmes, films and games.

  • Truman Burbank 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 the U.S. sitcom, Cheers, Sam Malone makes a reference to the song. Coming from the back room where Diane's primm book club meeting has become rowdy with booze, he asks: "I was wondering, Diane, what DO you do with a drunken sailor?" In the U.S. version of The Office, episode 11, "Booze Cruise," Dwight sings this song while he mans a fake captain's wheel on the bow of the ship. In Episode 9 (Season 1) of Sealab 2021, "All That Jazz," Captain Murphy, who has become (more) insane and developed an addiction to scorpion venom after having been trapped under a BeBop Cola vending machine for several months, sings the verse about the scuppers and hosepipe while waiting for his daily "dose." An instrumental version of this song has been used often on Spongebob Squarepants. Gypsy sings this song during Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, in the skit where Mike Nelson wrecks the Hubble telescope. The song also makes an appearance in the episode "Bad Water" of SeaQuest DSV.
  • In a level of the video game Hitman: Blood Money, 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.
  • In the movie Muppets Treasure Island, Long John Silver (Tim Curry) can be heard singing the song in the ship kitchen

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

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