The Cremation of Sam McGee

[Captain Kong]

YABADABADOO, THATS IT, ! After all these 55 years you found it Vernon, many thanks , I often think of my Mary, the Barmaid. It brings back a lot of memories.
Cheers
Brian

[Doc Vernon]

Always nice to have something of the great past to remember Capt! You have many I know ,but some are special!
Cheers and Glad that I could find it.
It was in his list!
Cheers

You just had the Title incorrect!

[Captain Kong]

Thanks Vernon for liking the Bonza Bay Poem I wrote of my mate Ken Drowning.
Here is one I w rote, I did it on my cruise and gave it to several Americans , they all said they enjoyed it. it was The Lap of Honour,

I am an 80 year old sailor thinking about my old girl friends and decide to go back round the world to find them ,
Then I realise, the young girls I once loved are now old and most probably have died. so that is the shock............
I`ll be thinking now that I`ll get a shock
on my memory trip to turn back the clock.
things won`t be the same time has moved on
the young girls I once loved have grown old and are gone.

.
.

The Lap of Honour.

I went to the `Vindi*`when I was a lad,
where conditions were hard
and the food was bad,
but I walked through those gates
as tall as a man
off to my first ship bound for Japan

And now I`ve retired and saved up my cash
once more round the world I am going to dash
to Mombasa and Java and out to Cathay
to see all my old girl friends
once more on the way

Mimi`s still waiting for me I`ve been told
I`d like to see her before she gets old
then on to see Dedeh in Tanjong Patack
then fly off on a Jumbo to Hong Kong`s Kai Tak

I`ll go back to Tahiti down in the South Seas
to see my Wahine in the warm sunny breeze
Then across to see Maggie in New Zealand`s Hawkes Bay
and have a beer in Ma Gleesons* back on the way

I`ll do the Lap of Honour round the Australian coast
to see all the girls who loved me the most,
from Thursday Island round to Sydney and Perth
they were the loveliest girls on earth

I`ll go to see Sheila and then Marylou
and call upon Mary in Woolloomooloo
then go up to Townsville to see Mary O`Keefe
where we walked hand in hand by the Great Barrier Reef

When I think of those nights by a blue lagoon
loving my girl under a tropical moon
and those happy times that we both shared..........
my Mary`s still waiting for me so I`ve heard.

On then to Honolulu and then Frisco Bay
and up to Vancouver and down to L.A.
I`ll jump on a Greyhound across to Hoboken
to see my Jenny whose heart I had broken

In Manhattan`s Times Square and 42nd Street
there must be some girls that I used to meet
it would be sad if I looked around
and none of my girls were there to be found.

So off I would go to old Mexico
to see my Juanita down in Tampico.
then across to see Molly in Montego Bay
and go up the Blue Mountains where we used to play

On then to Rio, Montevideo and B.A.
To May Sullivan`s Bar, where I used to stay.
There was Rosita, Paquita and also Maria,
On then to Santos and round to Bahia
.
Then when I return home again
to Liverpool`s dark and dismal rain
all my memories will always stay
they are something that no one can take away

I`ll be thinking now that I`ll get a shock
on my memory trip to turn back the clock.
things won`t be the same time has moved on
the young girls I once loved have grown old and are gone.

and now that I am coming to the end of my time
I must put my memories down into rhyme.
`cos when you are young life is all magic
but as you get older life becomes tragic.

but there is still some life in the old dog yet
and there`s more adventures for me to get
so I`ll be heading off into the sun
to have more excitement and plenty of fun.

I`ts not for me to tend the garden and flowers
polishing the brasses , walking the dog for hours.
but to go round the world in a blaze of glory
then I`ll come back home to write my story.

And then one day when I am old and grey
and my life`s been used up and it`s come time to pay
as I lie on my bed on my face will be a smile
I`ll just be a thinking ` it`s all been worth while.

Brian Aspinall, aka Captain Kong

[Doc Vernon]

Funny thing tat Capt
That Poem you have been looking for was one of my old favourites and when I saw that you were looking for it I knew at once that it was the incorrect Title,as it had stuck in my mind too for many Years! Also means something to me too isnt that strange!
Cheers

Like the other one too you just posted!

[Richard Quartermaine]

Brian, you are on the top rung of sentimental blokes. Richard

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Vernon, you are definitely deerstalker and magnifying glass class.
Richard