"Jack Was Every Inch A Sailor" is a traditional Newfoundland and Labrador folk song. It is a comical retelling of the Jonah tale, with a Newfoundland whaler as protagonist, but in this instance the whale gets his comeuppance. It may have been adapted from a New York City music-hall song "Every Inch a Sailor", which itself was a burlesque of "HMS Pinafore". This song was covered by Canadian children's singing group Sharon, Lois and Bram on The Elephant Show.

Lyrics

Upon the isle of Newfoundland there lived a sailor boy He was a handsome sailor lad, his father's pride and joy He was born on board his father's ship on a dark and stormy morn And he helped the crew harpoon a whale on the day that he was born Chorus: When Jack grew up to be a man he sailed from shore to shore He sailed his ship around the world a dozen times or more Harpooning whales was play to him for he was very strong And he was also very tall and his beard was very long CHO One night while Jack was standing watch a storm began to blow It blew so hard that soon the ship was tossing to and fro A great big wave rolled up to Jack and washed him to the rail And he was tossed into the sea and swallowed by a whale CHO Now when that whale had swallowed Jack it soon began to shake For this old whale had got himself a mighty stomach ache Well now, said Jack, this poor old whale don't know what he's about And he grabbed that whale all by the tail and pulled him inside out CHO Another version of the song is this: