It was sad when the great ship went down lyrics

Bob and I have been recording and watching almost every documentary about the Titanic we can find on TV this week and there are plenty to choose from. We especially enjoyed Titanic with Len Goodman (yes, the head judge on Dancing with the Stars) that aired on PBS last night. My mom had tipped us off that according to an article in the New York Times that it was said to be the best of the bunch. We also watched one earlier this evening with Sean that ran on the National Geographic Channel Save the Titanic with Bob Ballard (he was part of the expedition team that discovered the remains of Titanic in 1985).

I have been intrigued and fascinated by the story of the Titanic, learning about the passengers and their fate for as long as I can remember.

As I will share in my next post, in eighth grade one of my friends and I did a big research project about the Titanic. Working on our “exploration” project about the Titanic is still one of my favorite memories of learning and school during my teenage years.

One of my earliest memories related to Titanic was learning a song at YMCA Camp Echo in Fremont, MI which I attended for two weeks every summer (except for one) from 1986 – 1992 (the summer before 6th grade through the summer before my senior year in high school).

When I think back I can usually call the chorus and some of the verses to mind, but when I started writing this post I was not able to remember all of the words. So I Googled the lyrics and was surprised and interested to find all the variations that exist. I had to combine the lyrics from a few different versions to get what I recall being taught and singing at Camp Echo many years ago.

So though of course I find the tragedy of the Titanic to be very sad, I also appreciate being able to find comic relief in the midst of sorrow. I hope no one takes offense to the lyrics of this song and sees the good fun that I believe they were intended to be when they were written.

I plan to write another post about the Titanic in the coming days and possibly more than one.

In the meantime, my thoughts and prayers are with the descendents of those whose lives were ended and/or touched by Titanic’s fate. It was definitely “sad when the great ship went down.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Titanic

Oh, they built the ship Titanic
To sail the ocean blue,
And they thought they had a ship
That the water wouldn’t go through.
But the good Lord raised his hand
Said the ship will never land,
It was sad when the great ship went down.

Chorus:
Oh, it was sad, so sad,
It was sad, too bad!
It was sad when the great ship went down
To the bottom of the sea-ea-ea-ea
(Husbands and wives, little children lost their lives)
It was sad when the great ship went down.

O they were not far from shore,
When they heard that mighty roar
And the rich refused to
Associate with the poor.
So they put them down below
Where they’d be the first to go,
It was sad when the great ship went down.

Chorus

The boat was about to sink,
And the sides about to burst,
When the captain shouted,
“Women and children first!”
The captain tried to wire,
But the lines were all on fire,
It was sad when the great ship went down.

Chorus

Oh, they swung the lifeboats out
O’er the deep and raging sea,
When the band struck up with,
“Nearer My God to Thee.”
Little children wept and cried,
As the waves swept o’er the side,
It was sad when the great ship went down.

Chorus

Oh, the moral of this story
Is very clear to see.
Always wear a life-preserver
When you go out to sea!
So if your ship goes down,
You will never, ever drown,
It was sad when the great ship went down.

Chorus

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you heard and/or sung this song about the Titanic before?

What early memories do you have related to the Titanic?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cross-posted on BlogHer.

PATTYMAC3

unread,

Jul 21, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/21/98

to

Hello! Does anyone remember the song (I learned it at summer camp many moons
ago) about the Titanic, with the refrain "Husbands and wives, little children
lost their lives, Oh it was sad when the old ship went down"? I have one verse
but I think there are more. Any help from anyone would be MOST appreciated...I
want to sing this at a family gathering in late July.
Thank you
Patricia McMillen

Baumbaum

unread,

Jul 21, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/21/98

to

>Hello! Does anyone remember the song (I learned it at summer camp many moons
>ago) about the Titanic, with the refrain "Husbands and wives, little children
>lost their lives, Oh it was sad when the old ship went down"?

My favorite "parody on a parody" line is:

Uncles and aunts - itty bitty children lost their pants!
It was sad . . .

Try Digital Tradition for the whole thing.

Matt Baum - Expert in the Obsolete!

CphylThumb

unread,

Jul 21, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/21/98

to

Huhlodare Pat,

I do recall the chorus...at least the way WE sang it.....

It was sad, so sad, It was sad, so sad,
It was sad when the great ship down (to the bottom of the......),

Husbands and wives, little children lost their lives,

It was sad when the great ship went down.

I'll be thinkin' about the verses.....but, wow, that was a lonnnnngggggg time
ago.

Brian

Cyril & Sandy Alberga

unread,

Jul 21, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/21/98

to

This is NOT the "real" version. I've always called it the Engineers
version. I really don't know where it came from, but I've had it on a
mimeographed single sheet for at least forty years.

This seems to be my day for songs set to this tune. I just posted
another parody, "Dr. Freud" on this group, this morning.

The Ship Titanic

Oh they built the ship Titanic to sail the ocean blue
And they thought they had a ship that the water would never come through
It was on her maiden trip that an iceberg hit the ship

It was sad when the great ship went down

It was sad, oh ti was sad,
It was sad when the great ship went down to the bottom of the ----

Husbands and wives, little children lost their lives

It was sad when the great ship went down.

Oh the iceberg carved a hole in compartment number one
And it wasn't very long before the flooding had begun
Her the pressure differential was very influential

It was sad when the great ship went down

Now a weight was slowly added to this remote location
Which resulted in a moment 礎out the center of floatation
This set the bow in motion slightly deeper in the ocean

It was sad when the great ship went down

Thus the damaged piece of plating moved down a foot or two
And the static head of pressure caused more water to come thru
Further weight out on a limb caused an increase in the trim

It was sad when the great ship went down

But the trimming calculations in the semi-flooded state
Had a decimal mislocated, but by now it was to late
It was like the sound of thunder when the bulkhead to went under

It was sad when the great ship went down

Since above the bulkhead level doors and windows were cut thru
This brought about the flooding of compartment number two
An increase in the trim caused more water to come in

It was sad when the great ship went down

Towards compartment number three came the madly rushing sea
And the laws of Archimedes with respect to buoyancy
Would not be violated, so the whole damn thing deflated

It was sad when the great ship went down

Now the force of gravitation had been balance up to now
By the transverse inclination of the slowly sinking bow
But its good was now expended, Equilibrium thus ended

It was sad when the great ship went down

Thus the liner finally vanished from the surface of the sea
To a place where forces balance and where moments cannot be
As the ship owners repent and we solemnly lament

Lee Gold

unread,

Jul 21, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/21/98

to

You can find the "real" version in RISE UP SINGING and a variety
of other places, but *MANY* thanks for the "engineering" version
to Jeff Willner. We had a friend who sang it but wouldn't give us a
copy, and I was beginning to lose hope I'd ever get those lyrics.

Cyril & Sandy Alberga

unread,

Jul 21, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/21/98

to

I've actually got the original in a couple of places, including the
first (red) and second (yellow) IOCA song books, and song-sheets from
MIT in the early fifties.

Is Jeff Willner the writer of the engineer's version? I never knew.

Cyril

PATTYMAC3

unread,

Jul 22, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/22/98

to

Greetings: MANY thanks to everyone who responded with alarming speed to my
query re: titanic lyrics. One question: what is the "IOCA Songbook"? Sorry to
be so dense, but I've been mostly an instrumentalist all my life & am
(obviously) quite out of touch with lyrics & sources thereof (y'all have helped
set me straight).
Thanks again--
Patricia McMillen

Cyril & Sandy Alberga

unread,

Jul 23, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/23/98

to

The IOCA (Intercollegiate Outing Club Association, I think) song book
was mentioned not too long ago on this group. It is a collection of
songs which were popular among (guess!) collage Outing Clubs, back in
the '50s. The actual names are "Song Fest", and "The New Song Fest".
They are both edited by Dick and Beth Best. The first is a red covered
book, copyright 1948, the second has a yellow cover, and is copyrighted
1955. I have the third printing, November 1956.

The book was a stand-by when I was a Freshman in the Boston area in
1952, 53. Dick and Beth showed up at some of the song fests (lower
case), and included a number of the songs from the local mimeographed
hand-outs in the new edition. The books differ from the song sheets in
that they have the melody with chord names, rather than just the words.

I have no idea what the availability of these books is.

John Stirrat

unread,

Jul 26, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/26/98

to PATTYMAC3

I will put here what I can remember of it... I don't think I have the verses in the correct order.
 

Oh they built the ship Titanic and when they had it through
They thought they had a ship that the water wouldn't go through
It was on it's maiden trip when an iceberg hit the ship
It was sad when the great ship went down.

(Chorus)
It was sad, it was sad, it was sad when the great ship went down
To the bottom of the sea..............
(Husbands and wives itty bitty children lost their lives)

It was sad when the great ship went down.

It was off the coast of England and not too far from shore
When the rich refused to associate with the poor
So they sent them down below where they'd be the first to go

It was sad when the great ship went down

(Chorus)

Mrs. Astor turned around just to see her husband drowned
As the great Titanic gave a gurgling sound
Oh, she wrapped herself in mink
Just to watch the old man sink

It was sad when the great ship went down

(Chorus)

When they swung the lifeboats out on the deep and raging sea
And the band struck up with "Nearer My God To Thee"
The women and children cried as the the waves swept o're the side

It was sad when the great ship went down.
 

I think there are actually many versions of this song as is true with most folk songs.

Jon-Jon

Harold Groot

unread,

Jul 28, 1998, 12:30:00 PM7/28/98

to

On Thu, 23 Jul 1998 11:34:54 -0400, Cyril & Sandy Alberga
<> wrote:

>The IOCA (Intercollegiate Outing Club Association, I think) song book
>was mentioned not too long ago on this group. It is a collection of
>songs which were popular among (guess!) collage Outing Clubs, back in
>the '50s. The actual names are "Song Fest", and "The New Song Fest".

Perhaps it would be wise to mention that "Outing Club" meant people
who went mountain climbing, caving, white-water rafting and other such
Outdoor activities. These days it would be easy to attach a
completely different meaning.....

What was the date the Titanic song?

What song played as Titanic sank?

Why was the Titanic a great ship?

How many people died on the Titanic?