Boaty, Boaty, Spit in the Cut

I’ll sing you a song of the Junction Cut
I’m wedding you over the mopstick
Whether you like it or whether or not
I’m wedding you over the mopstick

Chorus:
Boaty, boaty, spit in the cut
Spit in the cut, spit in the cut
Boaty, boaty spit in the cut
I’m wedding you over the mopstick

I knows a girl at Sutton Stop
I'm wedding ...
Give her a tanner and then she’ll drop
I'm wedding ...

I knows a girl at Leyton lock
I'm wedding ...
Who likes the length a boatie’s got
I'm wedding ...

I knows a girl in Linslade town
I'm wedding ...
Who drops her kecks for half a crown
I'm wedding ...

When up to Maffers she do climb
I'm wedding ...
It costs you 7 and 6 a time
I'm wedding ...

When up near Bletchley you do lay
I'm wedding ...
It costs you all you’re laying pay
I'm wedding ...

When you’re down the Brentford docks
I'm wedding ...
She’ll give you a time and a dose of the (measles)
I'm wedding ...

The moral of this stories plain
I'm wedding ...
‘Tis quicker and cheaper to stay on the train
I'm wedding ...

A bawdy ballad whose words may be replaced by ruder terms. The polite refrain given above (which at least makes some sense) is taken from the recording by 'The Boatmen' (to the best of my ability). I have also seen it quoted as 'Wiping your nose on the mopstick'; the words 'spit' and 'nose' being liable to replacement. 'Jumping the broom' was an accepted form of marriage in many communities and 'jumping over the mopstick' is obviously a variation of this. 'Maffers' (verse 5) is apparently a reference to Marsworth which sits at the junction of the Grand Union Canal and the Aylesbury Arm.

Recorded on :