Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on July 27, 2003 at 13:55:56 from 195.93.32.8 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: Another version (was Re: politicised locals (was) posted by John Lambert on July 27, 2003 at 02:31:11:
From the Old Gaffer's Association Song Book:
"When I board my old boat, swig up halyard and throat, slip the mooring and haul in the sheet
I feel her lift to the seas, with a fair topsail breeze, my life as a gaffer's complete,
The track of the wake fades behind us, and only horizon ahead,
Oh rather than pack up my sailing, I think I would rather be dead!
I'm a yachtsman, I'm a yachtsman, from Maldon Town way
I get all my pleasure when I'm underway
I may be commuting on Mondays, but I'm a free man on Sundays.
I've sailed all over, from Harwich to Dover, Boulogne and Breskens as well
I've been burnt to a cinder, becalmed off the Hinder, and sick as a dog in the swell.
My blankets have often been sodden, in the bunk where I rest my old head
But rather than pack up my sailing, I think I would rather be dead!
Chorus...I'm a yachtsman, etc...
Well I've run past Shore Ends for the bars of Ostend and sailed across the Southern North Sea
In Flushing I've dallied, in Calais I've rallied, to pick up the odd duty free
Seen the loom of the Varne from the Foreland, the Gabbard from off Long Sand Head
Oh rather than pack up my sailing, I think I would rather be dead!
I'm a yachtsman....
I've moored in the Basin, gone aground in the Ray'sn and a few other places as well
I've crossed tacks with barges, egrudges harbour charges, thanked God for the old Spitway Bell
I've been watched by grey seals on the Maplins, as I've tacked past them swinging the lead.
Oh rather than pack up my sailing, I think I would rather be dead!
and so on for some more verses....More points for accuracy than for artistic merit, perhaps, but there we are.