COLLECTED FROM GEORGE PATTISON

THE DRUNKEN SAILOR

Topsail Halyard
George Pattison
Cape de Couedie Lighthouse
Kangaroo Island
South Australia
4 Dec 1924 (and 1941)
Clive Carey SS425

Hooray up she rises
Hooray, up she rises
Hooray, up she rises
Early in the morning

What shall we do with a drunken sailor

Put him in the long boat ‘till he’s sober

Put him in the long boat and make him bail her

What shall we do with the drunken sailor?

Put him in the guard room till he’ sober

Surely this is the most well known shanty of all? It has been recorded in bawdy and popular versions and still in circulation as they shave his belly with a rusty razor; send him to the yardarm sober and then to every torment imaginable.