Oars Before Shores

I spent a year or two aboard A sea faring vessel Through the gale and through the rain With Lord Neptune I did wrestle Me Capitan was a wise old man With experience beyond my years And when he got to talkin You shut yer mouth and opened yer ears One night after supper this he said to me Whiskey was made for drinkin And the sand was made for shores If a sailor gets caught with a married girl He best not lose his oars I spent some time locked up In a hard walled Turkish prison All that time inside Left me my home a missin And While I was a hostage My roommate was a rat Scaly tail and whiskered nose Twas on my bed he shat And one night after supper this I said to him Whiskey was made for drinkin And the sand was made for shores If I ever get back home Ill kiss the ground down on all fours I found myself in confessional There to tell a sin I waited in the booth alone Until the priest was in Sitting there debating Of what I thought I should say How should I tell an old ecclesiastic? About a wild young man’s way And so when he stepped in, this I said to him Whiskey was made for drinking And the sand was made for shores I got caught with a married girl But I didn’t lose me oars!