Drunken Sailor, also known as What Shall We Do with a/the Drunken Sailor? is shanty that became popular in the 19th century by sea-fairing crewmen. With the changes in crew size and work over the century, the song fell out of popularity among ship workers, but it found new popularity with non-sailors in the 20th century. The song is #322 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
Games
Arctic Shipwreck (C64)
Nemo's Vault (C64)
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Bart vs. the World (AST)
Bart vs. the World (AMI)
Pirates! Gold (W16)
Sheet Music
Lyrics
Like all ancient rhymes, there exist a number of alternate lyrics, many of which have been modernized as vocabularies have changed. These are some of the more common traditional lyrics.
Chorus:
What shall we do with a drunken sailor,
What shall we do with a drunken sailor,
What shall we do with a drunken sailor,
Early in the morning?
Refrain:
Weigh heigh and up she rises
Weigh heigh and up she rises
Weigh heigh and up she rises
Early in the morning
Traditional Verses:
Put/chuck him in the long boat till he's sober.
Put him in the long-boat and make him bale her.
Put/lock him in the guard room 'til he gets sober.
Put him in the scuppers with a hose-pipe on him.
Pull out the plug and wet him all over
Tie him to the taffrail when she's yardarm under
Heave him by the leg in a runnin' bowline.
Scrape the hair off his chest with a hoop-iron razor.
Give 'im a dose of salt and water.
Stick on his back a mustard plaster.
Keep him there and make 'im bale 'er.
Give 'im a taste of the bosun's rope-end.
Soak him in oil till he sprouts a flipper.
What'll we do with a Limejuice skipper?
What shall we do with a drunken soldier?
What shall we do with the Queen o' Sheba?
What shall we do with the Virgin Mary?
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