RUNNING DOWN TO CUBA
As sung by Joseph

Difficult to tell what the history of this one is.  Stan Hugill stated that it was a chantey for “doing nothing at all” in which the sailors might stomp on the deck three times after singing the response line either for fun or as a passive-aggresive manner of showing their displeasure.  Whatever the actual history for it was, it makes a good pub song!

Running down to Cuba for a load of sugar,
‘Way, me boys, for Cuba!
Make her run, you lime-juice squeezers,
Running down to Cuba.

‘Way, me boys, for Cuba!
Make her run, you lime-juice squeezers,
Running down to Cuba.

Running down to Cuba with a press of sail…
Flinging the water all over the rail…

Oh my God! How the winds do blow…
Running on south from the ice and snow…

Oh, I’ve got a gal about nine feet tall…
She sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall…

Yes, that’s my gal and her name is Eliza…
You can guess where she gives me a-rise-a…

Can she cook and can she clean…
Can she play the tambourine…

Oh she can love and she can bake…
She can slap my ass while she bakes me a corn cake…

That’s my gal, she can dance the Fandango…
Cheeks like a melon, tastes sweet as a mango…

Load the sugar and homeward go…
‘Cause Mr. May, he told me so…