The Lowestoft Boat (Kipling, set by E. Elgar) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


In Lowestoft a boat was laid,
    Mark well what I do say!
And she was built for the herring trade,
    But she has gone a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin',
    The Lord knows where!

They gave her Government coal to burn,
And a Q.F. gun at bow and stern,
And sent her out a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin',
The Lord knows where!

Her skipper was mate of a bucko ship
Which always killed one man per trip,
So he is used to rovin', rovin', rovin',
The Lord knows where!

Her mate was skipper of a chapel in Wales,
And so he fights in topper and tails -- 
Religi-ous tho' rovin', rovin', rovin',
The Lord knows where!

Her engineer is fifty-eight,
So he's prepared to meet his fate,
Which ain't unlikely rovin', rovin', rovin',
The Lord knows where!

Her leading-stoker's seventeen,
So he don't know what the judgments means
Unless he cops 'em rovin', rovin', rovin',
The Lord knows where!.

Her cook was chef in the Lost Dogs' Home,
    Mark well what I do say!
And I'm sorry for Fritz when they all come
    A-rovin', a-rovin', aroarin' and a-rovin',
    Round the North Sea rovin',
    The Lord knows where!

First published in Daily Telegraph, November 1915, revised 1919.

Authorship

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Sea Warfare

The Fringes of the Fleet

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

The Fringes of the Fleet

Date added to the website: 2009-02-05.

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