Good Ship Venus, The

DESCRIPTION: A quatrain ballad, this song describes the interminable sexual misadventures of the crew of the Good Ship Venus, whose mast is a rampant penis.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: Vance Randolph firmly dates the three versions in his "Unprintable" Collection from the Ozarks to 1890.
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex humorous ship
FOUND IN: Australia Canada Britain(England) US(NE,MW,So,SW) New Zealand
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Cray-EroticMuse, pp. 315-318, "The Good Ship Venus" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Legman-RollMeInYourArms I, pp. 500-501, "Frigging in the Rigging" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hopkins-SongsFromTheFrontAndRear, pp. 58-59, "Good Ship Venus" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea, pp 177-178, "There's Nothing Else to Do" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morgan/Green-RugbySongs, pp. 68-71, "The Good Ship Venus" (1 text)
Brand-BawdySeaSong 2, "The Good Ship Venus"; 12, "Frigging in the Rigging" (2 texts)
DT, FRGGING SHPVENUS
Roud #4836 and 8350
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Christopher Columbo" (lyrics)
NOTES [69 words]: The limerick-form stanzas with the internal rhyme in the third line of "Good Ship" frequently migrate to "Christopher Columbo." - EC
Roud splits off Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea's "There's Nothing Else to Do" as a separate song, #8350, presumably because it never mentions the ship "Venus." But it has the "Frigging in the Rigging" chorus, and it's a quatrain ballad about sexual escapades; I think they can be lumped. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: EM315

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography