{"id":2253,"date":"2020-04-16T14:29:22","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T14:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=2253"},"modified":"2025-12-28T08:00:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T08:00:43","slug":"ship-ahoy-all-the-nice-girls-love-a-sailor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/ship-ahoy-all-the-nice-girls-love-a-sailor\/","title":{"rendered":"Ship Ahoy (All the nice girls love a sailor)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>All the nice girls like a sailor<\/td><\/tr>
First published<\/td>1905<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>AJ Mills<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Bennett Scott <\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>V53408<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
Music Hall performers<\/strong><\/td>Hetty King , Ella Retford<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
When the man-o-war or merchant ship comes sailing into port\nThe Jolly Tar with joy, will sing out 'Land ahoy'\nWith his pockets full of money and a parrot in a cage\nHe smiles at all the pretty girls upon the landing stage.\n\nAll the nice girls love a sailor\nAll the nice girls love a tar\nFor there's something about a sailor\nWell, you know what sailors are\nBright and breezy, free and easy\nHe's the ladies pride and joy\nFalls in love with Kate and Jane\nThen he's off to sea again\nShip ahoy, ship ahoy.<\/em>\n\nJack is partial to the yellow girls across the Eastern seas\nWith lovely almond eyes, the tar they hypnotise\nAnd when he goes to the Sandwich Isles he loves the dusky belles\nDressed a la Salome, coloured beads and oyster shells.\n <\/strong>\nHe will spend his money freely and he's generous to his pals\nWhile Jack has got a sou, there's half of it for you\nAnd it's just the same in love and war, he goes through with a smile\nAnd you can trust a sailor, he's a white man all the while.\n <\/strong><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
A song whose chorus seems to have been imprinted on every person born in the British Isles before about 1980… But I’m not aware of it ever being a hit in the traditional music world as such, perhaps because it’s so well-known, or maybe it’s the racist last line\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hetty King (1883 to 1972), billed as “The Immaculate Man”, was one of the most famous female-to-male cross dressers in the Music Hall of the early 20th century. She was born into a family of travelling artistes, her father had a portable theatre and managed a troupe called Uncle Billy King’s Minstrels. From as young as the age of five, Hetty was mimicking male comedians. In her early 20s she became a male impersonator full-time with hits like I Want a Gibson Girl<\/em> and When I Get Back to Piccadilly<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
King’s most famous hit was Ship Ahoy! <\/em>– her stage impression of a sailor was apparently reinforced by the many hours she spent learning how to cut and roll pipe tobacco like the sailors did. She received love letters from young women, but unlike the other female cross dressers like Ella Shields, Hetty was reputed to treat them rather cruelly, claiming that letters from female admirers sickened her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ella Retford (1886-1962) was billed as “The Breezy Comedienne”. She was born in Ireland and celebrated the fact in her hit song  of 1914 “We’re Irish and we’re proud of it too<\/em>,” but also had a hit with \u201cHello There, Little Tommy Atkins<\/em>\u201d during World War 1. She recorded a number of records in the 1920s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ella Retford sings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n