{"id":21408,"date":"2023-06-14T08:50:28","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T08:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=21408"},"modified":"2023-12-22T06:50:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T06:50:37","slug":"i-love-to-be-a-sailor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/i-love-to-be-a-sailor\/","title":{"rendered":"I love to be a sailor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
First Published<\/td>1916<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Harry Lauder<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN43185<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Lauder<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Smith, Fred; USA : Arkansas, 1960<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From the sheet music<\/strong>\n\nI think I love a lassie; they say all sailors do.\nI've courted her for forty years, or maybe forty-two.\nThere's no mistake about it, but she is a dear wee dear,\nAnd ev'ry time I sail away, I whisper in her ear:\n\nI love to be a sailor, a sailor, a sailor.\nI love to sail upon the ocean blue, yes, I do-oo-oo.\nI love to be a sailor, a sailor, a sailor,\nSailing on the good ship Kangaroo.<\/em>\n\nI've been to Tobermory, I've been to Mexico,\nI've been to Honolulu, and I've been to Jericho,\nAnd ev'ry time I've sail'd away across the ocean deep,\nI've sat up in my bunk at nicht and sung out in my sleep:\n\nThey say that ev'ry sailor has a wife in ev'ry port.\nThat's a lie, because he has got nothing of the sort.\nIf sailors have a wife in ev'ry port, well, take my tip,\nThat ev'ry sailor's wife has got a man on ev'ry ship.\n\n[PATTER]\n\nMy next trip is my last, whether I come back or don't come back. Its a pretty good ship I'm going on this time, full rigged, fore an' aft. Oh, she's a good ship well,ye may know she has two masts, one at the front and one at the back, a big mast and a wee mast.\n\nIt's a great life, the sea, and before an ordinary sailor can be a captain he must be able to tell how many stars there are in the sky; and before ye can tell, ye must sail round the world and count them, then sail bank round and count them over to see there is no mistake. Oh! I tell ye, it's a great life,the sea. Well,as far as I'm concerned it is, because ....\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Another song written, composed and sung by the prominent Scots comedian Harry Lauder<\/a>.Like so many of Lauder’s songs it was widely sung by English speaking servicemen in World War 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was later collected by Paula Faris from the singing of Fred Smith a traditional singer in the American Ozarks in 1960. You can hear the recording  online in the University of Arkansas Ozark Song Collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chorus mentions the good ship Kangaroo<\/em> which may be a reference to an earlier folksong which comes from the Halls: Harry Clifton’s On board o\u2019 the Kangaroo<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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