The Sailors Way (Strange Version…)
We’ve courted gay Peruvian gals and French gals and Chinese
And Spanish gals and Dutch gals too and dainty Japanese
There’s a bar Australia in Honolulu where Hawaiian maidens play
Just a different girl in every port that’s the sailors way.
Singin’ goodbye ol’ Lucy/Cushla/Suzy/Rosie, I’m off to sea once more
Old sailor Jack will always come back to the girls we do adore
He’ll cross the line in the gulf stream, go around by table bay
He’ll round Cape Horn and come home again ‘cos that is the sailors way
Come calm or storm or winter shine, the shellback doesn’t mind
On the ocean swell he works like hell for the girls he’s left behing
He beats it North and he runs for South and doesn’t get much pay
He’s always on the losing game but that is the sailors way
[Chorus]
How brightly shines the North Star, what hangs on our starboard bow
We’re homeward bound to Liverpool town and our heart is in it now
We’ve crossed the line in the gulf stream, got around by table bay
We’ve rounded the Horn come home again and that’s the sailors way
[Chorus]
They’ll pay us off in Liverpool and we’ll all go on a spree
We’ll dance and sing and have some fun and forget the bloody sea
Now Johnny will go to his sweet Marie, and Paddy with Cushla play
But I’ll get drunk and turn in to me bunk, ‘cos that is the sailors way
[Chorus]