Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries
The Handsome Cabin Boy
Surely such a filthy song should incite the outrage of censors!BONUS: Versions by Kate Bush and Jerry Garcia in extended.
In the 19th century, broadside texts of the Handsome Cabin Boy remained steady sellers on the fairgrounds and in the backstreets of provincial towns for sixty years and more. A very widespread song, ashore as well as afloat, it is still not infrequently found among traditional singers in eastern England and north-eastern Scotland.
It's of a pretty female as you may understand
Her mind being bent for ramblin' all unto some foreign land
She dressed herself in sailor's clothes or so it does appear
And she hired with a captain to serve him for a year
The captain's wife, she being on board, she seemed in great joy
To think her husband had engaged such a handsome cabin boy
And now and then she'd slip him a kiss, and she would 'a liked to toy
It was the captain found out the secret of the handsome cabin boy
Her lips they were like roses, her hair allwas all in a curl
The sailors often smiled and said, "she looks just like a girl"
But eating of the captain's biscuit, her color did destroy
And the waist did swell of pretty Nell, the handsome cabin boy
It was in the Bay of Biscayne, our gallant ship did plough
One night among the sailors was a fearful flurry and row
They tumbled from their hammocks, for sleep it did destroy
They swore about the groaning of the handsome cabin boy
"Oh doctor, dear, oh doctor", the cabin boy did cry
"My time has come, I am undone, surely I must die"
The doctor cam a-runnin', and smilin' at the fun
To think a sailor lad should have a daughter or a son
The sailors, when they saw the joke, they all did stand and stare
The child belonged to none of them, they solemnly did swear
The captain's wife she says to him "My dear I wish you joy
For it's either you or me's betrayed the handsome cabin boy"
So each man took his tote of rum, and he drunk success to trade
And likewise to the cabin boy, who was neither man nor maid
"Here's hoping wars don't rise again, our sailors to destroy
And here's hoping for a jolly lot more like the handsome cabin boy"
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 06, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Music, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, Fables, Myths, Urban Legends, Rumors, Water-Cooler Lore, Pregnancy
Mystery Illustration 97
What super-famous Hollywood icon is this, beneath her disguise?The answer is after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 15, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Celebrities, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Movies, 1930s
Masquerade Party
Here's what's really weird about this show: a poet, Ogden Nash, and an author, Ilka Chase, were not considered too highbrow for a game show, and were recognized by the mass audience. Try that today!
Of course, having Dagmar on the show did not hurt.
The other parts of this episode also on YouTube.
Posted By: Paul - Sat May 04, 2019 -
Comments ()
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Celebrities, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Games, Literature, Television, 1950s
Johnson Smith Catalog Item #23
2018 NOTE: More masks.
If these horrifying masks are "lifelike" in the world you come from, I don't want to visit!
From the 1950 catalog.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 15, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Johnson Smith Catalog, 1950s
W. T. Benda, Mask Maker
More info here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 07, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Eccentrics, 1930s, Face and Facial Expressions
Gregg Peters: Elvis Impersonator
Let me know when you bail...
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 26, 2017 -
Comments (7)
Category: Celebrities, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Music, 1980s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
Bucket Head
Here's a guy who was caught on caught on camera stealing pigeons while wearing a bucket on his head and a plastic trash bag around his body. Florida, of course.More details at wsvn.com.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 15, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Crime, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries
Follies of the Madmen #256
What a simpler world...
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 01, 2015 -
Comments (5)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Food, 1960s, Australia
Mystery Illustration 5
Why is this fellow masked at his writing desk? Kidnapper? Bank Robber? Sex games?
Find the answer here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 18, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Art, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Twentieth Century
Narcissister
Caution: some brief flashes of bare bosoms--a tactic which seems to constitute the entirety of the performer's artistic armory--in video and at the link..
More info here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Sep 18, 2014 -
Comments (6)
Category: Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Avant Garde, Performance Art
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |