Yorkshire Garland
 

The Luckiest Sailor

 
Performed by:
Mick McGarry
Recorded in:
Hull
Recorded on:
01/10/2009
Recorded by:
Linda Kelly / Hissyfit
Genre:
Keywords:
Drowning,
Sailors
 

Archival information

TYG:
92
Key:
Eb
Time Signature:
6:8
Roud id:
0
Laws id:
Master title:
Luckiest Sailor
Places Cited:
Hull,
Iceland

Lyrics

1
I’ve been fishing the sea since a lad of fifteen;
There’s not a stretch of the ocean where I haven’t been,
And I’ve seen Northern lights and the whale fish at play,
And I’ve slept through the dogwatch, been fined half me pay,
And I’ve prayed long and hard in a westerly storm,
And I’ve dreamt of the young girls who had helped keep me warm,
And I’ve sat with the old jacks and listened in glee
To the tales of the women, the drink and the sea.

Chorus
I’m the luckiest sailor that Hull ever knew;
When the Kingston ship sank with the loss of her crew,
And I prayed for their lives and their sons and their wives
On the day that the Peridot perished.

2
I was a young sailor with settle in hand,
From trawling in Iceland with white fish to land,
And I’m dressed to me nines in me Ruckerback tails
And I’m off down the Stricky to sink a few ales;
But I’ll tell you a tale of the taxman and me,
He’s been robbing me blind since I first went to sea,
And I says to the skipper, ‘I’ll spend time ashore,
Cos I’m damned if the taxman will have any more.’

3
Then a whisper was heard that a Hull ship was down,
With no chance of a rescue, her men had all drowned,
And I supped up me ale and I knew in me head
That the Hull ship was my ship and me mates were all dead,
And the coins in me pocket weighed heavy that day,
And it took little courage to give ’em away,
And me mind took me back to me long days at sea,
And I asked the good Lord why me mates and not me.