Public-domain song
The Drunken Sailor
- Key signature
- No sharps or flats
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Origin
- A sea shanty in the Dorian mode, in print from 1839.
Public domain: a traditional tune, first published in 1839.
Written out here note by note as a melody only: no lyrics and no accompaniment.
The two parts
Part 1
The phrase people know, short enough to learn in a sitting.
- Length
- 4 bars, 20 notes
- Tempo
- ♩ = 96
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Range
- C4 to A4
- Note values
- quarter notes, eighth notes
Part 2: the complete song
The whole tune: its melody once through to its end, without the repeats a performance would add.
- Length
- 16 bars, 63 notes
- Tempo
- ♩ = 110
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Range
- C4 to D5
- Note values
- half notes, dotted quarter notes, quarter notes, eighth notes
Earn a star on the first part to open the complete song.
Lessons that use this song
Each of these lessons opens the first part.