Burl Ives - Jack Was Every Inch A Sailor lyrics

Burl Ives - Jack was every inch a sailor

Now '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 or thirty miles

Southeast of Baccalieu.

Chorus:

Jack was ev'ry inch a sailor,

Five and twenty years a whaler,

Jack was ev'ry 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.

The whale went straight for Baffin's Bay,

About ninety knots an hour.

And every time he'd blow a spray

He'd send it in a shower.

"O, now" says Jack unto himself,

"I must see what he's about,"

He caught the whale by the tail

And turned him inside out.

(Chorus)

-- Anonymous