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To purchase a basket was Jack's first intent,
To purchase a basket he was fully bent;
And twenty bright shillings there he did pay,
He took out the basket and dodged along, laddie,
Fol-de-diddle-laddie. Fol-de-darrel-oh-day.
He dodged along till he came to his ship,
'Twas, "Come, my good shipmates, and let's have a drink."
'Twas, "Come, my good shipmates, come drink if you're dry,
The best of good liquor they call Bung Your Eye," laddie,
Fol-de-diddle-laddie. Fol-de-darrel-oh-day.
To open the basket was Jack's next intent,
To gather spray on it he was fully bent;
When he opened the basket he heard a child cry,
Wrapped up in a blanket it was Bung Your Eye, laddie,
Fol-de-diddle-laddie. Fol-de-darrel-oh-day.
To get the lad christened was Jack's next intent,
To get a name for him he was fully bent;
Said the parson to Jack, "I will christen your boy,
But what will you call him?" - Said Jack, "Bung Your Eye", laddie,
Fol-de-diddle-laddie. Fol-de-darrel-oh-day.
"Bung Your Eye?" Said the parson, "sure that's a queer name."
"And damn it!" said Jack, "it was queer how it came;
As I was a-going my sea-stock to buy,
I got soaked in the liquor and I bought Bung Your Eye," laddie,
Fol-de-diddle-laddie. Fol-de-darrel-oh-day.
Sung by Jacob Noseworthy of Pouch Cove, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A variant was also collected in 1952 from Gordon Willis [1911-2001] of St. John's, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published as Young Bung-'er-eye in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp.895-896, by The National Museum Of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
Kenneth Peacock noted that 'bung-'er-eye' is usually pronounced 'bung-yer-eye' or 'bung-your-eye.' It is an old sailing term for strong rum or any hard liquor.
From The Fiddler's Companion © by Andrew Kuntz:
Bung Your Eye - 'shut your eye', a meaning taken from the bung or cork used to stopper a hole in a cask; 'bung your eye' was one euphemism for gin (along with 'strip-me-naked' and others), an alcoholic beverage the English populace nearly drowned in during the mid-18th century; in this sense an excess of gin will 'shut (bung) your eye(s)' through blind drunkeness.
