They sit all day, all bitchin’ on the water
Bob-bob
Some blokes and a dame,[1] nearly victims of slaughter
Bob-bob

Up and down in lifeboat, wavy
Up and down where the fish play
Up and down in lifeboat, navy
Ain’t in sight day after day

This life ain’t nice, and the temper’s get prickly
Bob-bob
Ain’t no sign of a dock, and some get sickly
Bob-bob

Up and down in lifeboat, crazy
Up and down where the fish play
Up and down in lifeboat, hazy
Is the fog after the day

Bitch all day, weep all night
And among them is an enemy blight
The editing here is nothing like the cuts in “Rope”
Cuts in “Rope!”

Meanwhile they’re still bitchin’
In this quibblin’ lifeboat
No one’s happy in this pitchin’ lifeboat, so

Up and down in lifeboat, wavy
Up and down where the fish play
Up and down in lifeboat, Davey
Jones might beckon any day


[1]Tallulah Bankhead. Great quote from the bisexual husky-voice actress (she reportedly smoked 7 packs a day), when asked by gossip columnist Earl Wilson if she had ever been mistaken for a man on the telephone: “No, have you?” She was infamous for not wearing underwear. According to Hume Cronyn, during the filming of Lifeboat the crew complained about her flashing them when she had to climb a ladder to go into the mock-up of a lifeboat. When their objections to Bankhead's exhibitionism reached Hitchcock, he reportedly quipped that he didn’t know if it was a matter for wardrobe or hairdressing. [source: imdb.com]