{"id":27442,"date":"2025-06-14T14:04:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T14:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=27442"},"modified":"2025-07-12T08:54:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T08:54:35","slug":"yarns-or-the-captain-told-the-mate","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/yarns-or-the-captain-told-the-mate\/","title":{"rendered":"Yarns, or The Captain told the Mate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The Captain and the Mate<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1901<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>WH Wallis<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN10729<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>George Brooks<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Winter, John `Dusso’ ; England : Suffolk : no date<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Yarns, or The Captain told the Mate<\/strong>

From original Sheet Music (1901)
Words and music by WH Wallis
Sung by George Brooks

Our Captain knows a lot of yarns, 
I think they must be true,
And to the Mate he spins his yarns
When on the ocean blue.
He told him once there was a man
A builder he, by trade,
Who built a chimney twelve miles high
And all the bricks he made.

Another man said, \"I think I could build 
A chimney much higher than that,
And I'll make the mortar as well as the bricks,
I'm sure my name is Pat!\"
He built one up so high,
It went beyond on the sky,
But they made him take a few bricks off
To let the moon go by.

The captain told the mate, The mate told the crew<\/em>, 
The crew told me, So I know it must be true.
You hear some funny tales ... while sailing on a trip
That's a little yarn I heard aboard a ship<\/em>
[twice]

The Captain said that in New York 
He saw a clever cove
Come in a bar, where, on the floor,
There stood a red-hot stove; 
And just to show what he could do,
He lifted up his fist
He punched the stove and dented it \u2013
He was a pugilist.
But when he went out, another came in \u2014
They told him what had been done,
Said he to the boys, \"I'm better than him \u2014
I'll show you a trick, for fun;\" 
Excitement was intense \u2014
He proved himself immense, 
He got inside the red-hot stove
And pushed out all the dents.

The Captain be went fishing once 
And caught a giant fish,
It was so large \u2014 quite twice as big
As any man could wish.
For when he dragged it in the boat
He got a shock, oh, Lor ! 
It was so big the river sank
Some twenty miles or more.
Then somebody asked if it was a shrimp \u2014
The Captain said he'd forgot,
\"Well, was it a shark?\" then asked the mate,
\"Or was it a whale\u2014or what?\"
The Captain begged to state
To the crew, also the Mate,
He couldn't remember the name of the fish \u2014 
But he used a whale for bait.

I'll tell the yarn about the goat
That ate the cowboy's shirt; 
The shirt it was a red one
And the cowboy he felt hurt;
He swore he'd kill the goat for that, 
But swearing sometimes fails,
He dragged it to the railway lines 
And tied it to the rails.
He left it to die, but when the express
Came tearing along the line, 
The poor little goat he wanted to live
And got an idea so fine;
That red shirt gave him pain \u2014 
He coughed it up again,
Then waved the red shirt with his mouth,
And quickly stopped the train.
\t
The Captain said he once picked up 
A frozen rattle snake,
He took it home and kissed it twice 
Till it was wide awake.
The snake went nearly mad with joy
And  jumped just like a frog,
Then whispered in the Captain's ear-
\"I'll be faithful as a dog!\"
But one night a burglar broke into the house 
When the Captain was fast asleep,
The snake seized the burglar by the throat, 
For the window he made a leap;
The snake got the latch undone\u2014
The Captain fetched his gun,
The snake then sprang its rattle,
And the policeman had to come.

The Captain vowed a sailor once
Was cast upon a shore,
From off a shipwreck to a place
He'd never seen before;
The place was uninhabited \u2014
Jack had a nerve of iron,
For soon he came right face to face
With such a great big lion!
This beast of a lion he made such a spring,
And opened his mouth so wide
That right down his throat Jack shoved his long arm
And when it was right inside,
He gave a mighty shout -
It's true without a doubt,
He grabbed the lion by the tail
And pulled him inside out.

<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A song with words and music by WH Wallis – see brief notes below (to follow). It was originally sung naughty-cally by “The Blinker” <\/em>George Brooks. The song was something of a hit – so much so that Wallis wrote a follow up for Brooks: That’s what the Winkle told the Whale<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John H0wson recorded traditional Suffolk singer John Winter, performing it some 50 or so years later. His version is available for download on the Veteran collection When the wind blows<\/em>, available by following the links at https:\/\/veteran.co.uk\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Other songs by WH Wallis (d1949) include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n