A Sailor Went to Sea
"A Sailor Went to Sea" is a traditional children's clapping game, and skipping rhyme. It was initially called 'My Father Went to Sea', before becoming more widely known as 'A Sailor Went to Sea'.[1]
Origin
[edit]"My father Went to Sea" originated in Brockley at Mile End sometime in 1967 by an unknown writer.[2] From there, it spread throughout London in the early 1970s to West Norwood and Battersea Brixton.[2] The song was first recorded by Iona Opie in Birmingham in 1972.[3] After the fourth verse, the initial words typically replace "sea/see" with other words, such as "chop", "knee", "bed", "pick", or "toes", with appropriate gestural substitutions.[4] According to the Opies, the title "A Sailor Went to Sea" was a joke that originated or was perpetuated in the song "We Joined the Navy" (aka "We Saw The Sea") from the 1936 movie Follow the Fleet.[2]
Lyrics
[edit]A first verse of A Sailor Went To Sea goes as:
- A sailor went to sea, sea, sea
- To see what he could see, see, see.
- But all that he could see, see, see
- Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea.
While saying "sea", aquatic waves are mimed with the hand; while saying "see", the hand is brought to the eye to mime a "seeing" gesture.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ The British Library. "Clapping games - A sailor went to sea, sea, sea". Playtimes. The British Library. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
- ^ a b c N. G. N. Kelsey (2019). Games, Rhymes, and Wordplay of London Children. Springer. p. 242-243.
- ^ "A sailor went to sea, sea, sea (1972)". British Library via YouTube. 2 September 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ "A Sailor went to Sea (2010)". British Library Collection Items. British Library. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Curtis, Mavis (2004). "A sailor went to sea: theme and variations". Folk Music Journal. 8 (4): 421–437. JSTOR 4522717.
- Opie, Iona Archibald (1985). The Singing Game. Oxford University Press. pp. 467–468. ISBN 978-0-19-211562-1.
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