What do you do with a Drunken Sailor?

This is a song that is fun to sing-along with, but I started thinking a bit deeper (maybe a wee bit too deep) about what it all means, and now I’m not so sure. I mean, this guy was a sailor, probably celebrating a bit too enthusiastically during his night in port. I surmised that from the fact that his mates have to try to sober him up early (or, “urly,” as it’s sung) in the morning. Then for some reason they put him in a longboat til he’s sober. I think the idea here was, he didn’t smell good, and the others don’t want the guy getting sick in their boat, so they put him in his own boat, and drag him along behind. He probably fell into the boat, happy as a lark, still singing at the top of his lungs, thinking he’s the cream of the crop among singers, well on his way to fame and fortune.

Then we get to the Way-Hay and up she rises part. This is a bit tricky to figure out. What, exactly, is rising? Well, it could be the sea, with the tide coming up, or maybe the sun is just starting to mount above the far away horizon of the sea. But, dare I say, the drunken sailor might have had some heaving and “rising” going on, from his over-imbibing, but let’s not dig too deeply into that thought….

At any rate, it’s early, or “urly, and the world around our unfortunate sailor is coming to life, just as said sailor is passing out in his long boat, while noticing some sharp pains in his head.

At this point, the drunken sailor’s friends start thinking of ways to prank this guy, and get him into even more trouble. The suggestion of “stick him in a skupper with a hosepipe bottom” is beyond me. Your guess is as good as mine! 🤔

The next idea is even more far-reaching, “put him in bed with the captain’s daughter.” Okay that is just mean. The guy goes from dreaming of singing in the opera to possibly walking the plank. He’s beginning to regret his decisions of the previous night, but it only gets worse. You see, the captain’s daughter was a rather quiet and unattractive young lady, and Captain has really been looking for someone to take her off his hands. The story ends with the daughter and the drunken sailor rowing back to port for a quick marriage, and a promise to rescue them when they return to port (with the thought, in every crewman’s mind, of never docking in that port ever again.)

So, there you have it, my take on the true story of the drunken sailor, and how he gave up drinking for the rest of his life and raised a family of eleven children with his not-so-pretty, (but very shrewd and savvy) wife, whipping our drunken sailor into shape, helping him start a thriving business, and making a fine man out of him. “Way hay and up she rose him, to the level of a gentleman, her skills a sure sign of a gentlewoman, And they lived happily ever after!

You can take it or leave it.