Lyrics by Paul Gray
We’d hardly been out of port for a week
when all the ships barrels began to leak
The seals were all near crumbling
They buckled, warped and swelled
The crew were all a murmuring
Boys, what is that bloody smell?
The biscuits is weevily
the salt horse is tough
The flour is green
and one beer’s not enough
So Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Being rationed just a pint per day has got us in ill humor
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Get underway, sir don’t delay and take us to Bermuda
The cooper he’s done such a sloppy poor job
When I’m back ashore, I’ll string up that knob
The barrels are all broken
From the last to the first
The men all agree
O, the cooper he’s the worst!
The biscuits is weevily
the salt horse is tough
The flour is green
and one beer’s not enough
So Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Being rationed just a pint per day has got us in ill humor
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Get underway, sir don’t delay and take us to Bermuda
The beer all bled out from a score of hogshead
I’ve nothing to wash down this bug ridden bread
This loss, my heart can’t afford
Sad sailors, grab a pail
Bailing beer overboard
Is the saddest pail I’ve bailed.
The biscuits is weevily
the salt horse is tough
The flour is green
and one beer’s not enough
So Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Being rationed just a pint per day has got us in ill humor
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Get underway, sir don’t delay and take us to Bermuda
The dry goods are wet and the wet goods are dry
I’d give my left eye for a hot shepard’s pie
I’m not the mutinous sort
But improve my ration
Afore we come to port
Or it might come into fashion
The biscuits is weevily
the salt horse is tough
The flour is green
and one beer’s not enough
So Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Being rationed just a pint per day has got us in ill humor
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Damn the Cooper! (Damn the Cooper)
Get underway, sir don’t delay and take us to Bermuda