When the ships all go a-sailing and the men are off and gone
What about the women who are up and left alone?
They think we sit and twiddle thumbs until our men come home
But there’s other things to twiddle when a girl’s left on her own

CHORUS:
Twiddly-idle-idle-oh, twiddly-idle-ay
There’s lots of times a man will leave you broken with dismay
Twiddly-idle-idle-oh, twiddly-idle-ay
There’s other things to twiddle when your man has gone away

I remember Nelly, she was young and she was gay
She won the heart of Captain Dan but then he sailed away
He left her high and dry with just a kiss upon her chin
But as his ship went sailing out, another ship sailed in

CHORUS

Then there was Lucinda Brown, as fair as any maid
Her true love went to voyaging, a sailor man by trade
“Keep the fire burning, love,” those were the words he spoke
So she found herself another man to keep the fire stoked

CHORUS

Now when Lucinda’s man came back and knocked upon her door
She was as glad to see him as she’d ever been before
He left her lying on the bed but Lucy didn’t care
Course the poor guy in the closet sure could use a little air


CHORUS

You hear a lot of stories about the sailors and their sport
About how every lad has got a girl in every port
But if you added two and two you’d figure out right quick
That’s just because the lassies have a lad on every ship

CHORUS

Twiddly-idle-idle-oh, twiddly-idle-ay
There’s lots of times a man will leave you broken with dismay
Twiddly-idle-idle-oh, twiddly-idle-ay
There’s other things to twiddle when your man has gone away

Twiddly-idle-idle-oh, twiddly-idle-ay
There’s lots of times a man will leave you broken with dismay
Twiddly-idle-idle-oh, twiddly-idle-ay
There’s other willies willing to twiddle when your Willy’s gone away