A song of 1903 from “The Wizard of Oz”.
Words by Vincent Bryan.
Music by Theodore F. Morse.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- ‘Twas on the good ship Cuspidor we sailed through Baffin’s Bay
We tied her to the ocean, while the Bulwarks ate some hay
The Captain said “We’ll tie the ship, whatever else betide!”
And he drank a pint of gasoline with whiskey on the side
He had lost his breath, but soon it was restored
It was midnight in the galley, it was one beside the dock
But by the starboard watch ’twas only half past nine o’ clock
The first mate said, “Unhitch the mules, we’re going thro’ a lock”
And then the bo’sun went and put the larboard watch in “hock”
For the good ship didn’t have a cent aboard
Chorus 1
Avast! belay! hurrah for Baffin’s Bay!
We couldn’t find the pole because the barber moved away
The boat was cold, we thought we’d get the grip
So the painters put three coats upon the ship!
Hip, hip, hip, hip, hurrah for Baffin’s Bay!
- A brace of wild ducks perched upon the starboard mizzen clew
The Captain spliced the braces and he braced us for a chew
He said, “We’ll dine on duck and wine, I know we’ll have good luck”
But there was no Piper Heidseick, so the Bo’sun chased the duck
And he piped the chickens to the forward hatch
We were told to weigh the anchor, but the scales were full of ice
We couldn’t weigh it all at once, we had to weigh it twice
The second mate fell overboard, it dried him to the skin
He got aboard without a rope, we couldn’t rope him in
For he lit aboard us with a parlor match
Chorus 2
Avast! belay! hurrah for Baffin’s Bay!
A whale began to blubber, he was sorely tried one day
He mashed a sweet potato on a ship
But he found she was a Saratoga chip
Hip, hip, hip, hip, hurrah for Baffin’s Bay!
- The bo’sun asked the polar bear would she eat off his hand
But polar bears talk Polish and she did not understand
She chased him up a mountain peak, she acted very tough
When she made him jump the precipice he knew it was a bluff
But if she had bit him he’d have bit her back
Two loving whales got in our net, we knew they were insane
They blew themselves and then we saw they’d water on the brain
The bull whale said “Soapine, I love you best of all the whales”
The lady said “Don’t talk so loud, the fishes carry tales”
And the bull whale kissed her with a fishing smack
Chorus 3
Avast! belay! hurrah for Baffin’s Bay!
Just three years is a lifetime there, for six months is a day
A whale can give a ferry boat the slip
But it can’t get full of sailors like a ship
Hip, hip, hip, hip, hurrah for Baffin’s Bay!
- We met a friendly Eskimo and bought a seal skin sack
We found it was a skin, but still he wouldn’t take it back
We handed him his balance, but he lost it and he fell
That is all for that poor Eskimo, I know his widow well
For when he gave us the sack it sealed his fate
When the Captain ate an onion, then the good ship sprung a leak
A man fell from the masthead and they said he died from pique
We didn’t have a thing to eat, the stove refused to bake
The cook went out amid the ice and he brought back a cake
But he couldn’t if he didn’t have a skate
Chorus 4
Avast! belay! hurrah for Baffin’s Bay!
A clipper came last Wednesday and it took us both away
The ice is fine if you’re out for a trip
But I never saw an iceman on a ship
Hip, hip, hip, hip, hurrah for Baffin’s Bay
Sung here by Fred Feild: