Good Ship Venus
| "'Good Ship Venus'" | |
|---|---|
| Roud 4836 | |
| Song | |
| English title | also known as Friggin' in the Riggin' |
| Writer(s) | Traditional |
| Language | English |
| "Friggin' in the Riggin'" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Sex Pistols from the album The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle | |
| Released | 26 February 1979 |
| Recorded | 1979 |
| Genre | Punk rock, traditional pop |
| Length | 3:37 |
| Label | Virgin Records |
| Writer(s) | Traditional; arranged by Jones |
| Producer(s) | Dave Goodman |
"Good Ship Venus", also known as "Friggin' in the Riggin'", is a bawdy drinking song devised to shock with ever increasingly lewd and debauched sexual descriptions of the eponymous ship's loose-moraled crew. The tune usually used (especially for the chorus) is "In and Out the Windows".
The lyrics exist in numerous variations. The opening verse is typically something along the lines of:
The last line of which varies, such as Our crest a rampant penis or Sucking a dead man's penis.
The usual rhyming structure for this song is the limerick AABBA structure.
Oscar Brand recorded an early version in 1952, but the best-known version was recorded by the British punk band Sex Pistols, which appears on their Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle album, and was the finale track in the film of the same name. Released as part of a double-A side, it reached No. 3 in the UK singles chart in 1979 and was the band's biggest selling single.
When a ship was required in The Goon Show it was often named the "Good Ship Venus" or "HMS Venus", one of several references to dirty jokes the Goons managed to get past the 1950s BBC censors.
The American thrash metal band Anthrax covered the Sex Pistols' version, but with different lyrics. In 2006 Loudon Wainwright III recorded it on the compilation album Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys. The American punk band Showcase Showdown also released a version of the song on a tribute to the Sex Pistols.
Serbian punk rock musician Toni Montano recorded a version of the song, with lyrics in the Serbian language, entitled "Frigidna je bila", relying on the Sex Pistols version.
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Wikipedia