There was a ship of Rio

There was a ship of Rio
  Sailed out into the blue,
And nine and ninety monkeys
  Were all her jovial crew.
From bo'sun to the cabin boy,
  From quarter to caboose,
There weren't a stitch of calico
  To breech 'em -- tight or loose;
From spar to deck, from deck to keel,
  From barnacle to shroud,
There weren't one pair of reach-me-downs
  To all that jabbering crowd.
But wasn't it a gladsome sight,
  When roared the deep-sea gales,
To see them reef her fore and aft,
  A-swinging by their tails!
Oh, wasn't it a gladsome sight,
  When glassy calm did come,
To see them squatting tailor-wise
  Around a keg of rum!
Oh, wasn't it a gladsome sight,
  When in she sailed to land,
To see them all a-scampering skip
  For nuts across the sand!

About the headline (FAQ)

Submitted by Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Authorship

• by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 1. Up and Down, no. 18, first published 1913 [ author's text checked 1 time]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Edward Allam , "The ship of Rio", published <<1956. [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Mark Andrews (1875 - 1939), "The ship of Rio", published 1932 [voice and piano], in Music of Many Lands and Peoples [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Violet Balestreri Archer (1913 - 2000), "The ship of Rio", <<1952. [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "The ship of Rio", 1932, note: early school-song [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Vance Campbell , "Nine and ninety monkeys", published <<1940. [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Theodore Ward Chanler (1902 - 1961), "The Ship of Rio", published 1940, from Four Rhymes from Peacock Pie, no. 1. [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Bainbridge Crist (1883 - 1969), "The ship of Rio", published <<1940. [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Brian Blyth Daubney (b. 1929), "The ship of Rio", published 1958. [unison chorus and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Dorothy Dushkin , "The ship of Rio", published 1955 [SSA chorus, woodwinds (trio) or piano], from Three Songs for Women's Voices and Woodwind Trio or Piano [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "The ship of Rio", 1932, published 1933. [voice and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Terence Greaves (b. 1933), "The ship of Rio", published 1965 [2-part chorus and piano], from Follow my leader [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Archibald Jacob , "The ship of Rio", published <<1940. [voice and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "The Ship of Rio" [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Anthony Francis Dominic Milner (b. 1925), "The ship of Rio", published 1959 [SSA chorus a cappella], from Peacock Pie [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by George Norman Peterkin (1886 - 1982), "Nine and ninety monkeys", published <<1940. [voice and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Michael Edward Rose (b. 1934), "The ship of Rio", published 1967. [women's or children's chorus in unison and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Edwin M. Smith (b. 1938), "The ship of Rio", published 1936. [women's chorus or boys' chorus in unison and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by William Gillies Whittaker (1876 - 1944), "The ship of Rio", published 1919, Curwen [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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