THE RUDDER AND THE ROCK
(William Oliver / Ray Glaser / Fred Warren / Kenneth McGehen)

David Whitfield - 1956


One night a sailor at full look out
Heard a lonely seagull cry
He caught a sudden smell of brimstone
And a strange ship floated by
A dead man’s hand was on the tiller
As it sailed beneath the moon
He heard the ghostly captain holler
Your time is coming soon
Who does not answer to the rudder
Shall answer to the rock
If you don’t watch the compass brother
You’ll never make the dock
You’ll end your days right on the bottom
Under Davy Jones’s lock
Who does not answer to the rudder
Shall answer to the rock

The crew sang out a devil’s shanty
As they hauled their mainsail tight
Their dungarees were rags and tatters
And their bones were gleaming white
The bosun held an empty spyglass
Where the captain’s eye should be
For they were doomed to sail the ocean
For all eternity
Who does not answer to the rudder
Shall answer to the rock
If you don’t watch the compass brother
You’ll never make the dock
You’ll end your days right on the bottom
Under Davy Jones’s lock
Who does not answer to the rudder
Shall answer to the rock

A crash of thunder shook the heavens
As the sailor shook with fear
The lightning flickered round the ghost ship
As he watched it disappear
He knew it was the Flying Dutchman
Come to warn him to take heed
He vowed when he got back to harbour
A better life he’d lead
Who does not answer to the rudder
Shall answer to the rock
If you don’t watch the compass brother
You’ll never make the dock
You’ll end your days right on the bottom
Under Davy Jones’s lock
Who does not answer to the rudder
Shall answer to the rock
Shall answer to the rock


(Transcribed by Bill Huntley - January 2005
from the album “The Very Best Of David Whitfield”)