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Music › D minor › The Sleepy Sailor

⛵ The Sleepy Sailor: chords and words

The Sleepy Sailor is written in D minor, with 2 chords: Dm and C. Tap Fits a small voice and I’ll move the whole song to where you can sing it.

The Sleepy Sailor in D minor

The tune goes from C4 to D5: try “Fits a small voice”.

  • DmGCE○A
  • C○G○C○EA

DmWhatshallwedowithasleepysailor?

CWhatshallwedowithasleepysailor?

DmWhatshallwedowithasleepysailor?

CEarlyintheDmmorning!

DmWay,hay,andupsherises,

CWay,hay,andupsherises,

DmWay,hay,andupsherises,

CEarlyintheDmmorning!

DmSinghimasonguntilhewakesup!

CSinghimasonguntilhewakesup!

DmSinghimasonguntilhewakesup!

CEarlyintheDmmorning!

DmWay,hay,andupsherises,

CWay,hay,andupsherises,

DmWay,hay,andupsherises,

CEarlyintheDmmorning!

DmGivehimahugandacupofcocoa!

CGivehimahugandacupofcocoa!

DmGivehimahugandacupofcocoa!

CEarlyintheDmmorning!

DmWay,hay,andupsherises,

CWay,hay,andupsherises,

DmWay,hay,andupsherises,

CEarlyintheDmmorning!

Traditional sea shanty tune (public domain), with Peabody's own words. peabody.kids/music

Where the song comes from

The tune is an old sea shanty that sailors sang while they hauled ropes; it was written down on a whaling ship in 1839 and printed in New York in 1841. The old words are about a sailor who drank too much, so Peabody wrote new ones about a sailor who will not wake up. It is in a minor key, which gives it its rolling, stormy sound.

Words: Peabody's own words. Tune: the shanty written down by F. A. Olmsted, Incidents of a Whaling Voyage (New York, 1841). Both were printed before 1931, so the song is in the public domain in the United States: anyone may sing it, print it and share it. Peabody wrote out the tune and the chords for this page. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Sailor.

For teachers

The tune runs from C4 to D5 in D minor. For a class from Pre-K to 2nd grade, try D minor (Dm, C), which keeps it inside C4 to D5.

Easiest to play

On a ukulele: D minor (Dm, C). On a guitar: E minor (Em, D).

Sing it with the words lit up

The sing-along plays the tune and lights each word as it is sung.

More songs

Look up any chord in the Chord Finder, or see every song in D minor.

Checked 2026-10-31.

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