Cyril Francis Tawney, folk revival singer and songwriter, naval historian a… Read Full Bio ↴Cyril Francis Tawney, folk revival singer and songwriter, naval historian and broadcaster: born Gosport, Hampshire 12 October 1930, married 1966 Rosemary Radmore; died Wonford, Devon 21 April 2005. Tawney was born into a naval family in Gosport, Hampshire, in 1930. He joined the Navy at 16 and spent 12 years in the service working as a naval artificer (electrician), in naval slang a "tiffy", hence Tawney's song drolly winkled out of a Shakespearian quote, "A Lean and Unwashed Tiffy". He made his radio début as a folk singer on the Home Service's Sing Christmas and the Turn of the Year on Christmas Day 1957. As a former submariner, he had a keen appreciation of naval life, but he turned the particular into the universal in many of his songs. They entered song collections such as Songs for the Sixties (1961), The Oxford Book of English Traditional Verse (1983) and The Oxford Book of Sea Songs (1986). Tawney became a leading authority on maritime song, singing on the important anthology Farewell Nancy (1964); acting as consultant to "provide authentic song material" for the television series Moonfleet; and writing Grey Funnel Lines: traditional song & verse of the Royal Navy 1900-1970 (1987). Scots singer Ray Fisher once remarked, "Cyril was something of an enigma." She was right. He never conformed to folk stereotypes of any sort, never touted his politics, just sang and made history come alive.

Sammy's Bar
Cyril Tawney Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Cyril Tawney:

Chicken on a Raft Skipper's in the wardroom drinking gin, (Hey -oh, chicken on…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

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Comments from YouTube:

@Volantredx

8w↑1

For reasons I never was actually told when I was little, my mom used this song as a lullaby. I still love to hear this song ever since.

@stephaniebarr507

2y↑5

A real Royal Navy song, from the mouth of a real mate lot Cyril Tawny. I spent many years in Malta as a sailor in the late 50’s 60’s . Great song and great voice. Thanks Cyril.

@jamesmorgan7346

29w↑1

Music as it should be. A great story set to a good tune.

@jamesstuartbrice420

1y↑2

I was interested in what Sammy's Bar was, and I found this quote in the Internet:a popular submariners' rendezvous actually called The Old Bar but always known as Sammy's Bar, after the proprietor. Sammy sold a very cheap and nameless rough, white wine, which you could call the Mediterranean's answer to English farmyard scrumpy." It seems it was on the island of Malta. A great song!

@kevinwadland6783

The days we saw him but his voice of the land of Devon and Cornwall we miss his voice but he singing l got the LP is he with now he sing of life

@unknowman1955

Proper English folk song..sung brilliantly by a brilliant English singer

@fredericksammut5300

Very nice

@devonshovel230

31w

Life has been better since this has come back to youtube, thankyou. Now upload 'Monday Morning' please you cheeky little monkey.

@richH1625

1y↑5

Note how he puts two beats on 'last'. Other versions I've heard don't. They just don't catch the same rhythm and sentiment as CT.
To me this feels like slow waves breaking gently on a steep shore
or of the roll of a biggish ship in a swell.

@cheeseheadfiddle

5y↑3

Classic song. Are there earlier recordings of this?

@dbeierl

4y↑8

From the fascinating entry at mainlynorfolk.info --

Cyril Tawney sang The Last Boat's A-Leaving in a recording made by Peter Kennedy at Cecil Sharp House, London, on the 1960 HMV album Rocket Along: New Ballads on Old Lines. He recorded it again in 1966 as The Ballad of Sammy's Bar for the Elektra album A Cold Wind Blows, in 1972 for his Argo LP In Port. It is also on his Neptune cassette Sally Free and Easy (1989, reissued in 2003 on his Ada CD Navy Cuts). He also sang Sammy's Bar live at the Holsteins folk club in Chicago on 31 May 1981. This concert was published in 2007 on his CD Live at Holsteins.

@EricFlatpick

There's a nice version on The New Golden Ring's album Five Days Singing.

@christopherwhittaker3144

3y↑6

Cyril Tawney wrote this song, it refers to his time serving in Malta with the Navy.
'Call away the Dyso' is a reference to the 'Dghajsa' a horse drawn taxi, 'Paula Square' is in ''Valetta', 'Inetuffeya bay' is 'Ghaja Tuffheja Bay' tourist know it as 'Golden Bay'
I served in Malta 1963 to 1965 brings back memories, I bought the sheet music years, still sing it in folk clubs.

@neilhough7125

3y↑4

The Di-so is a dgħajsa tal-pass, the Maltese gondola-like water taxi.

@Jonpriley

3y↑4

@@christopherwhittaker3144 Your memory is playing tricks :-). The "dghajsa" is a water taxi, like a gondola. The bay is "Ghajn Tuffieha", and is the next one along (south) from Golden Bay. ("Gh" is silent in the Maltese language, as I expect you know.) He also mentions Pieta, the dockside suburb of Valetta, site of Sammy's Bar. You're quite right about the rest of course. He served in Malta in the 50s, and the song refers to having to get back to the ship every night, via the last dghajsa, which naturally inhibited the onshore social life. I love the way the song represents that, as the refrain constantly interrupts the narrative.

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@Mandolorian1001

2y↑1

I love Stan Rogers’ version of this

@apolloniangerm

2y↑1

Cyril almost looks like he could be related to Rogers in the pic used on this vid, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were somehow.

@jamesstuartbrice420

I like all the versions. Especially the one by Martin Simpson on the Bramble Briar album. But what was Sammy's Bar? Is that a real place or an imaginary one. Harry's Bar is a famous locale in Venice where famous people often go. And there was a Sammy's Bar that had mafia connections, but perhaps it was a different one.

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