The Lazy Chantey

Publication: Melbourne Herald
Date: 15 July 1922

A long dispute between the management of Howard Smith Ltd. and the Seamen’s Union ended yesterday with the departure for sea of a steamer crew. Her sailing is another instance of the failure of “job-control.”

Oh, well,
Yo, heave ho!
A man has to knuckle down, you
know.
And so, so,
Yo, heave ho!

The capstan bars
They ’urt us tars
Who have knocked around in the city
bars
But our boss ’as lost—
We pay the cost
An’ so—
Boys, let ’er go!

Yo——
Yo, ’eave ho!

Hey! Feel ’er roll!
This job control
Was not much good to men like us.
Hi! Grab that rope!
Why, man, there’s hope
When we get away from the long-
shore fuss
So, pull, SO!
Hey with a yo, heave ho!

We’re seamen yet
We can’t forget
The call of the sea—the kindly sea.
Hey! Watch ’er rush!
She’s game, by gosh!
An’, by the same, real game are we!

Ah, let it blow!
And let ’er go!
Our minds are cleared of all that dope.
Oh, the kindly sea
Will do for me
And the sailor-man at last has hope.