Lyrics Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor - Burl Ives

Now 'twas twenty five or thirty years
Since Jack first saw the light
He came into this world of woe
One dark and stormy night.
He was born on board his father's ship
As she was lying to
'Bout twenty five or thirty miles
Southeast of Baccalieu.

Chorus:
Jack was ev'ry inch a sailor,
Five and twenty years a whaler,
Jack was ev'ry inch a sailor,
He was born upon the bright blue sea.

When Jack grew up to be a man,
He went to the Labrador,
He fished in Indian Harbour,
Where his father fished before.
On his returning in the fog,
He met a heavy gale,
And Jack was swept into the sea
And swallowed by a whale.

The whale went straight for Baffin's Bay,
About ninety knots an hour.
And every time he'd blow a spray
He'd send it in a shower.
"O, now" says Jack unto himself,
"I must see what he's about,"
He caught the whale by the tail
And turned him inside out.

(Chorus)
-- Anonymous