I just loved singing
The Ballad of Sammy's Bar whilst a member of the
Tyneside Maritime Chorus who sing this
Cyril Tawney song to perfection. For me this is one of Tawney's finest songs as it captures the mood and mentality of Jack ashore in the Med in the 1950s and 1960s. Tawney tells a very full story of how the song came to be written in the lyric link given above. The song brings back happy memories of those days when serving on the Mighty Vic (HMS Victorious) and being anchored plonk in the middle of Grand Harbour, Malta. Being in three watches or as a night worker, calling away the diso as sung in the chorus was my personal order of the day. Naval types will chuckle over the lines:
And my real love, she was there
There was sand all in her hair
How did sand get in your hair
Darling Johnny put it there
One has to ponder on what type of hair is being sung about and I'm pretty sure it was not sand which got caught in it. It was something else beginning with S!
This song may be found in the Tyneside Maritime Chorus songbook