Get up Jack, John sit down

AKA	Jolly roving tar

Lyrics

Edward Harrigan

Music

David Braham

Roud

RN2807

1885 version 
Oh Ships will come and ships will go, just as long as waves do roll
Each sailor lad, likewise his dad, will love the flowing bowl.
Afloat, ashore they do adore  a lass that is plump and round
When the money’s gone tis the same Old song: 

Get up Jack, John sit down!
Heigh laddie, Ho laddie
Swing the capstan round
When the money’s gone it’s the same Old song: get up Jack, John sit down
 
An old sheath-knife and souwester are staunch old friends at night 
A glass of grog in rain or fog will steer a sailor right
From old Brazil to Bunker Hill we scatter dollars round
When the money’s gone tis the same Old song: 

Go take A cruise on a man o war to China or Japan,
In Asia there, the maidens fair all love a sailor man.
While Tom and Joe palaver oh and buy some the girls a gown
When the money’s gone tis the same Old song: 

When Jack’s ashore he steers to some old boarding house
He’s welcomed in with rum and gin, and fed on pork and scouse.
he’ll spend and lend and he'll ne’er offend 
and lay drunk on the ground:
When the money’s gone tis the same Old song: 

When Jack is old and weather-beat, too weak to roust about,
In some rum shop they’ll let him stop, at eight bells he’s turned out.
He cries he cries up to the sky “ I’ll soon be homeward bound”,
For my money’s  gone tis  the same old song:


Peter Bellamy sings:
Ships may come and ships may go, just as long as the seas do run
And a sailor man, likewise his dad, he loves his pork and rum.
Now a lass ashore he do adore one that is plump and round;
But when your money’s all gone it’s the same old song:

Get up Jack, John sit down!
Come along, come along me jolly brave boys,
There’s plenty more grog in the jar;
We’ll plow the briny ocean with a jolly roving tar

When Jack’s ashore he makes his way to some old boarding house
He’s welcomed in with rum and gin, likewise with fork and scouse.
Now he’ll spend and he’ll spend and he'll never offend until he lies drunk on the ground;
But when your money’s all gone it’s the same old song …

He then will ship aboard some ship bound for India or Japan,
Or in Asia there, the ladies fair all loves the sailor man.
He will trip ashore and he won’t scorn to buy some maid a gown
But when your money’s all gone it’s the same old song …

When Jack is old and weather-beat, too old to sail about,
In some grog shop they’ll let him stop ’til eight bells do ring out.
Then he’ll raise his hands high, and loud he’ll cry, “Thank God I’m homeward bound”,
But when your money’s all gone it’s the same old song … 

This one has certainly has entered the folk tradition after being sung on the US vaudeville stage. Kilgarriff lists it in the repertoire of the Moore and Burgess Minstrels, an American blackface troupe, who appeared continuously on British Music Hall stages from the 1860s until the early twentieth century. So seems very likely that they sang this song on the British stage.

It was collected by the great American folksong collectors Frank and Anne Warner from the singing of Lena Bourne Fish in New Hampshire (USA) in 1940/41. There are a number of recordings this song by folk artists of the British Isles, though the precise lyrics vary.

I have found several references to this song being given Roud Number 913, but looking at the versions in the VWML, these seem to be a different song also called the Jolly Roving Tar, collected from the singing of George Hiscock in Hampshire (UK) by George Barnet Gardiner in 1906, and featuring on many broadsheets going back to the 1870s and possibly earlier. Harriman’s version has Roud number 2807 and also has been collected on broadsheets going back to the 1870s

Sources:

• Sheet music and original lyrics from Lester Levy sheet music collection
• Lyrics: Peter Bellamy’s version from Mainlynorfolk
• Kilgarriff Sing us one
• Records in VWML
• British Music Hall, An illustrated history

Jeff Warner and friends sing:

Last Updated on June 1, 2022 by John Baxter | Published: December 10, 2019