Good Ship Venus
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"Good Ship Venus", also known as "Friggin' in the Riggin", is a bawdy
drinking song A drinking song is a song that is sung before or during Alcoholic beverage, alcohol consumption. Most drinking songs are Folk music, folk songs or commercium songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyri ...
devised to shock with ever increasingly lewd and debauched sexual descriptions of the eponymous ship's loose-moralled crew. The tune usually used (especially for the chorus) is " Go In and Out the Window".


Lyrics

The opening verse is typically something along the lines of: However, the lyrics exist in numerous variations. For example, the last line varies, being substituted with any of a large variety of phrases such as 'Our crest a rampant penis', 'With a mouth full of dead man's penis', or 'Sucking on a red-hot penis'. The usual rhyming structure for this song is the limerick AABBA structure. A few other verses: The Captain's wife was Mabel She was ready, willing and able On the floor, behind the door Or under the kitchen table. The first mate's name was Carter By gad he was a farter! When the wind wouldn't blow And the ship wouldn't go They'd get Carter the farter to start her. The second mate's name was Topper By Christ he had a whopper! Once around the deck Twice around his neck And up his arse for a stopper.


Origin

It is possible that this song was inspired by an actual event, where a female convict ( Charlotte Badger), sailing on the colonial brigantine ''Venus'', persuaded members of the crew to commandeer the vessel, sailing from Port Dalrymple,
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
, (now part of George Town, Tasmania) in 1806. Despite various reports, the ultimate fate of the ''Venus'' is unknown. This may have led to speculation by those left behind, with fantasies leading to the creation of this drinking song. One of the verses also refers to a 'Charlotte':


HMS ''Venus'', RN

Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name between 1758 and 1972. The most recent was a destroyer launched in 1943, which was converted into a fast frigate in 1951, and served during the 1950s and 1960s. (She was a sister ship of HMS ''Troubridge'', whose name inspired the fictional "HMS ''Troutbridge''" in the long-running BBC radio comedy '' The Navy Lark'' of the same period).


Recordings

Notable recordings include the Oscar Brand 1952 version, and the British punk band Sex Pistols, which appears on their '' Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle'' album, and appears as the finale track in the film of the same name. Released as part of a double-A side, it reached No. 3 in the UK singles chart in 1979 and was the band's biggest-selling single. When a ship was required in '' The Goon Show'' it was often named the "Good Ship Venus" or "HMS ''Venus''", one of several references to dirty jokes the Goons managed to get past the 1950s BBC censors. The American thrash metal band Anthrax covered the Sex Pistols' version, but with different lyrics. In 2006 Loudon Wainwright III recorded it on the compilation album '' Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys''. The American punk band Showcase Showdown also released a version of the song on a tribute to the Sex Pistols. Serbian
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
musician Toni Montano recorded a version of the song, with lyrics in the Serbian language, entitled "Frigidna je bila", relying on the Sex Pistols version. In British director Ken Russell's 2005 "Hot Pants Trilogy", "The Goodship Venus" short was billed as a musical trip around Cape Horn with "as horny a crew of sex-crazed sailors who ever sailed the seven seas." The trilogy received its world premiere at the Oldenburg Festival, Germany in September 2005.


In popular culture

* The chorus from the Sex Pistols' version of the song was used in the opening titles of the Channel 4 situation comedy '' Captain Butler''; minor variations to the words (in spoken form) were added, notably by the series' lead actor Craig Charles. * A Royal Navy ship ''Venus'' is the setting of the film '' Carry On Jack''. * In the television series '' Man About the House'', George Roper tried to teach his budgerigar 'Oscar' the song "On Board the Good Ship Venus" in the episode "One More for the Pot" (Season 6, Episode 2). * Mentioned by Inspector Fowler in '' The Thin Blue Line'' episode "Rag Week" (Season 1, Episode 4). When explaining the ins and outs of relevant procedures, should one of his force "arrest the rugby team for using obscene language", he warned that the arresting police officer would find themselves "having to recite the lyrics of 'The Good Ship Venus'" - that is, will be asked to voice in court all the words said rugby team was using, loud and clear, lest they are blamed for being "unsure of their facts".


References


Further reading

* Cray, Ed. ''The Erotic Muse: American Bawdy Songs'' ( University of Illinois Press, 1992), . * Legman, Gershon. ''The Horn Book''. (New York: University Press, 1964). * Roud Folk Song Index 4836 {{authority control Comedy songs Drinking songs Sea shanties Sex Pistols songs Songs about boats Year of song unknown Songs with unknown songwriters