The Shaver

When I was a little tiny boy
I went to sea in Stormy’s employ
I sailed away across the sea
When I was just a shaver, a shaver
Oh I was weary of the sea
When I was just a shaver
Oh, they whacked me up and they whacked me down
The mate he cracked me on the crown
They whacked me round and round and round
When I was just a shaver, a shaver
Oh I was weary of the sea
When I was just a shaver
When I went aloft by the lubber’s hole
The mate he cried, God Dang your soul
It’s the (?) of (?) is the way you’re (?)
You shaver, a shaver
Oh I was weary of the sea
When I was just a shaver
When we lollopped around the (?) of
Cape Horn
I wished that I had never been born
And I wished I was home both safe and sound
When I was just a shaver, a shaver
Oh I was weary of the sea
When I was just a shaver
A shaver
When I was just a shaver
Lubber’s Hole — a hole through the platform
surrounding the upper part of the ship’s mast,
through which one may climb to go aloft.
Lolloping — to move with a bobbing motion
Humorous in a very dry and bitter way, this shanty is actually quite gruesome
in relaying the plight of an abused cabin boy who suffers under cruel officers.
One of the few shanties in which the obscenity took a homosexual form.