Sammy Ain't You Glad You Joined the Navy

DESCRIPTION: "When I was but a little lad, Way down in Joe Batt's Arm, For jigging squids I didn't care... I got a job to join a ship.... Sammy, ain't you glad you joined the Navy." The doctor inspects him. He travels to Halifax and gets in fights
AUTHOR: Johnny Burke (source: Murphy)
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (Duke of York Songster, according to Murphy)
KEYWORDS: navy travel humorous
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
ADDITIONAL: Johnny Burke (William J. Kirwin, editor), _John White's Collection of Johnny Burke Songs_, Harry Cuff Publications, St. John's, 1981, #12, pp. 26-27, "Sammy, Ain't You Glad You Joined the Navy" (1 text)
Michael P. Murphy, _Pathways through Yesterday_, edited by Gerald S. Moore, Town Crier Publishing, 1976, pp. 156-157, "Sammy Ain't You Glad You Joined The Navy" (1 text)
NOTES [134 words]: For background on Johnny Burke, see the notes to "The Kelligrews Soiree." The Glencoe, mentioned in the song, is presumably the ship of that name that was a member of the "Alphabet Fleet" that carried traffic around Newfoundland. According to Maura Hanrahan, The Alphabet Fleet, Flankers Press Ltd., 2007, p. 4, she was built in 1900, was a ship of 769 tons, and served for more than half a century -- though obviously Burke could not have known that in 1901! William Connors, By the Next Boat: A Photo History of Newfoundland Coastal Boats, Johnson Family Foundation, 2002, p. 20, says she was built in 1899 (probably the difference is between her start and completion dates), and saw sold in June 1959 and scrapped. For the Alphabet Fleet, see the notes to "The Wreck of the Steamship Ethie." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: Murp156

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