From the 1902 musical play “Foxy Grandpa”.
Words by Elville Baker.
Music by Joseph Hart.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
1. “Tell us the story, will you please
You started on the boat”
“About the ocean blue, my boys
About the ocean blue?”
“Not about the ocean, but the first submarine boat”
“About the first sub-marine boat, boys?
I’ll tell you,It dives beneath the water
And is quickly out of sight
While under there, the captain
Is always looking for fight
There’s nothing new about these boats
The first was years ago
Jonah was the Captain
And the whale the boat, you know”
CHORUS
“Jonah was the Captain
Of the submarine boat ‘Whale!’
He could whip ‘most anything
That came across his trail
He was known in history
As the terror of the sea
Captain Jonah and his sub-marine boat, ‘Whale!'”
2. “Inside that whale it must have been
As dark as dark could be”
“Indeed it was quite black, my boys
Indeed it was quite black”
“Then where did Jonah get a light?
Or how could Jonah see?”
“Inside the whale there is a sack of oil, a sack
So Jonah took his sou’wester
And scooped a hatfull, quick
He then cut his chin-whiskers off
And used them for a wick
And why he left that boat
Is told by wise men of renown
That Jonah was a working man
And wouldn’t be kept down”