Master and Swabber (mp3 Sample)

The Tempest, Act II, Scene 2

Lyrics

The master, the swabber, the boatswain and I,

The gunner and his mate

Loved Mall, Meg and Marian and Margery,

But none of us cared for Kate;


For she had a tongue with a tang,

Would cry to a sailor, Go hang!

She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch,

Yet a tailor might scratch her where'er she did itch:


Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang!

About the Song

Stephano, the shipwrecked and ever-drunk servant in The Tempest, sings this bawdy sailor-song on his first entrance - with a wine-bottle in his hand the whole time.

Dog Legs & Feet's Jon Watson wrote this version of the song, with its wandering harmonies and raucous call-and-response, for a Shakespeare at Winedale production of The Tempest in the summer of 1996.

Track Info

Lyrics by William Shakespeare.

Music by Jon Watson.

Arranged by Dog Legs & Feet.

Musicians: