Chicken on a Raft

Written by the late Cyril Tawney. A few translations: “chicken on a raft” is a (fried) egg on fried bread, according to most sources. Some say toast – and some say a boiled egg on fried bread. Dustmen are stokers, so named because they were covered in coal dust (the nickname apparently sticks to this day). Dabtoes were still any member of the seaman branch, most of which dwelled in the Forward Mess. Comic cuts were C240s, a report on his character read to every rating by his Divisional Officer on an annual basis. Donnibristle (Donny-B) is 5 miles east of the dockyard of the Rosyth Naval Base in Scotland

 
Chicken on a Raft
 
Skipper’s in the wardroom drinking gin
Hey yo         Chicken on a raft
I don’t mind knockin, but I ain’t goin’ in
Hey yo         Chicken on a raft
The Jimmy’s laughin’ like it’d rain
Hey yo         Chicken on a raft
He’s lookin’ at me comic cuts again
Hey yo        Chicken on a raft
 
 
Chicken on a raft on a Monday morning
Oh, what a terrible site to see
Dabtoes forward and the dustmen aft
 
Sittin’ there a picken’ at a chicken on a raft
 
Hi ho                     chicken on a raft
Hey ho           chicken on a raft
Hi ho                     chicken on a raft
Oh no           chicken on a raft
 
Gave me the middle and the forenoon too
Now I’m pulling on a whalin’ crew
Seagulls wheelin’ overhead
I oughta’ be home in me featherbed
 
I had a little girl in Donny-B
And did she make a fool of me
Her heart was like a pusser’s shower
Run hot to cold in a quarter of an hour
 
We kissed goodbye on the midnight bus
She didn’t cry and she didn’t fuss
Am I the one she loves the best
Or just a cuckoo in another man’s nest
 
An amazon girl lived in Dumfries
Only had her kids in twos and threes
She’s got a sister in Maryhill
Says she won’t but I think she will