From the recording Blue Water
When I bought my schooner, Renegade, twenty-odd years ago, one of the first things I had to do was to replace the standing rigging. It was a big job, involving some 24 wire rope splices, a shop-made rigging vise, a whole lot of puncture wounds and a thorough review of Anglo Saxon vocabulary. The chorus is from an old rhyme for remembering how to cover your splices and wire with a “service”, that is, wrapping a skinny tarred rope around a fat wire rope to protect it from corrosion. In memory of the late, great, Brion Toss, who wrote a book of the same name.
Lyrics
Ch: Worm and parcel with the lay
Turn and serve the other way
That’s how you make your shrouds and stays
Get her ready ‘cause we’re sailin’ in the morning
Tar and a brush and we’re slushing down the rigging
Try not to slop it on the captain down below
“Look right sharp,” the bos’n’s voice comes ringing
“Get ready ‘cause we’re sailing in the morning”
Ch:
Up with the topmast, get her in her fittings
Try not to drop ‘er on the captain down below
Heave on the heel rope; make her do your bidding
Get ready ‘cause we’re sailing in the morning
Ch:
Bend on your mains’l, tops’ls, gallants, royals
Try not to drop ‘em on the captain down below
Clew lines, bunt lines, sheets belayed and coiled
Get ready ‘cause we’re sailing in the morning
Ch:
Chorus continues as each verse is sung again, ending with the chorus words sung with the verse melody