A song by
Tom Lewis, in the style of a
traditional sea shanty. It
bemoans the changes that have occured in the
Navy, and its loss of tradition. It is also
covered by many bands, to the point that some people think it's in the
public domain.
My
father often told me, when I was just a lad,
A
sailor's life was very hard, the food was always bad.
But now I've joined the
Navy, I'm
on board a
man-o-war,
And now I find a sailor ain't a sailor any more!
Cho:
Don't
haul on the
rope, don't climb up the
mast,
If you see a
sailing-ship it might be your last,
Get your
civvies ready for another run
ashore,
A sailor ain't a sailor ain't a sailor any more!
The
killick of our
mess, he says we've had it soft,
It wasn't like this in his day, when he was
up aloft,
We like our
bunks and
sleeping bags but what's a
hammock for?
Swinging from the
deckhead or lying on the floor?
They gave us an
engine that first went
up and down,
Then with more
technology the engine went
around,
We're good with steam and diesel but what's a
mainyard for?
A
stoker ain't a stoker with a shovel any more!
They gave us an
Aldis Lamp, we can do it right,
They gave us a
radio, we signal day and night,
We know our
codes and ciphers but what's a
'sema' for?
A '
bunting-tosser' doesn't toss the bunting any more!
They gave us a
radar set to pierce the fog and gloom,
So now the
lookout's sitting in a tiny darkened room,
Loran does
navigation the
Sonar says how deep,
The
Jimmy's
three sheets to the wind, the
Skipper's fast asleep.
Two cans of
beer a day, that's your bleeding lot!
But now we gets an extra one because they stopped The
Tot,
So, we'll put on our civvy-clothes and find a
pub ashore,
A sailor's still a sailor, just like he was before!