Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor
"Jack Was Every Inch A Sailor" is a traditional Newfoundland and Labrador folk song. It is a comical retelling of the Jonah tale, with a Newfoundland whaler as protagonist, but in this instance the whale gets his comeuppance.
It may have been adapted from a New York music-hall song "Every Inch a Sailor", which itself was a burlesque of "HMS Pinafore".
Lyrics
JACK WAS EVERY INCH A SAILOR
- 'Twas twenty-five or thirty years since Jack first saw the light,
- He came into this world of woe one dark and stormy night;
- He was born on board his father's ship as she was lying to,
- 'Bout twenty-five of thirty miles southeast of Baccalieu.
- Oh, Jack was every inch a sailor,
- Five and twenty years a whaler;
- Jack was every inch a sailor,
- He was born upon the bright blue sea.
- When Jack grew up to be a man he went to the Labrador,
- He fished in Indian Harbour where his father fished before;
- On his returning in the fog he met a heavy gale,
- And Jack was swept into the sea and swallowed by a whale.
- Oh, Jack was every inch a sailor,
- Five and twenty years a whaler;
- Jack was every inch a sailor,
- He was born upon the bright blue sea.
- Oh, the whale went straight for Baffin Bay, 'bout ninety knots an hour,
- And every time he'd blow a spray he'd send it in a shower;
- Oh, now, says Jack unto himself, I must see what he's about,
- He caught the whale all by the tail and turned him inside out.
- Oh, Jack was every inch a sailor,
- Five and twenty years a whaler;
- Jack was every inch a sailor,
- He was born upon the bright blue sea.
See also
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