The Handsome Cabin Boy

[decvax!cg-atla!champine@TRANTOR.UMD.EDU (Mark Champine)]

I have been listening over and over to the end of "The Handsome Cabin
Boy" and cannot figure out the words.

	"the captain's wife she says to him
	 my dear I wish you joy,
	 for 'tis either you or me..............the handsome cabin boy.

Can anyone help me out?

I started lurking this group a couple years ago, when I noticed a lot
of net discussion about the relative merits of "The Dreaming" vs.
"Hounds of Love".  I went to a record store which had only TKI, NfE,
and TWS, and I selected The Whole Story essentially at random. (OK! It
was the cover photo!)

The first song "Wuthering Heights" as was familiar to me as what I had
THOUGHT was (don't puke) Pat Benatar's cleverest, most striking song.
Little did I know...

The album bowled me over. It was all so new to me that it took many
listenings to grok some of her work, but if it was easy, it wouldn't
be as rich as it is.  5 albums, a radio marathon, and 2 videos later,
I'm still hooked.

It's frustrating sometimes trying to expose other people to Kate,
since many people don't have the patience to listen closely, or get
turned off by her voice (the fools!); still I persist. It's been great
having this worldwide network of Love-Hounds to learn from.  Keep up
the good work all!
							marK
-- 
Mark Champine            ...!{decvax,ulowell,ima,ism780c}!cg-atla!champine
"When anyone says `theoretically,' they really mean `not really.'"
			                -- David Parnas

      [	I have inserted below the complete lyrics to "The Handsome
	Cabin Boy"  -- |>oug ]


	The Handsome Cabin Boy
	----------------------

	It's of a pretty female as you may understand
	Her mind been bent for rambling into some foreign land
	She dressed herself in sailor's clothes, or so it does appear
	And she hired with a captain to serve him for a year

	Her cheeks they were like roses and her hair all in a curl
	The sailors often smiled and said he looked just like a girl
	But eating all the captain's biscuit her colour did destroy
	And the waist did swell of pretty Nell, the handsome cabin boy

	It was in the Bay of Biscay her gallant ship did plow
	One night among the sailors was a fearful floorin' row
	They tumbled from their hammocks, for their sleep it did destroy
	And they swarmed about the groanin' of the handsome cabin boy

	"Oh doctor, dear.  Oh doctor," the cabin boy did cry
	"The time has come -- I am undone, and I will surely die"
	The doctor come a'runnin' and a'smilin' at their fun --
	To think a sailor lad should have a daughter or a son

	The sailors when they saw the joke, they all did stand and stare
	The child belonged to none of them, they solemnly did swear
	And the captain's wife she says to him, "My dear I wish you joy
	For 'tis either you or me's betrayed the handsome cabin boy"

	[the end]

	[There are two verses to the song which Kate has left out.
	One is the second verse:]

	The captain's wife she being on board, she seem-ed in great joy
	To see her husband had engaged such a handsome cabin boy
	And now and then she'd slip in a kiss, and she would have liked to toy
	But it was the captain found out the secret of the handsome cabin boy

	[end of second verse]

	The other is the last verse:

	Then each man took his tot of rum, and drunk success to trade
	And likewise to the cabin boy, who was neither man nor maid
	Here's hopin' the wars don't rise again, our sailors to destroy
	And here's hoping for a jolly lot more like the handsome cabin boy

	[end of last verse]