On the fifth of November back in fifty-three
The big man at Dolphin he sent for me:
'I brought you here, boy, 'cause I want you to know
We've booked you a berth in the water below
With the diesel and shale, diesel and shale
We've booked you a berth with the diesel and shale

Well, when I protested: 'I'm no volunteer'
He said: 'We ain't had one in many a year
But that's a wee secret between you and me
There's many a pressed man down under the sea
With the diesel and shale, diesel and shale
Down under the sea with the diesel and shale

'Oh doctor, dear doctor, I don't think I'm well'
'Well, never mind, sonny, we'll very soon tell
Try holding your breath while I count up to three
There, that proves that you're fit to go down in the sea'
With the diesel and shale, diesel and shale
To go down in the sea with the diesel and shale

I went to the storeroom to gather me rig
They gave me a sweater ten sizes too big
I crawled down the boat like an old polar bear
And I say to meself: 'There's a smell in the air
And it's diesel and shale, diesel and shale 
There's a smell in the air and it's diesel and shale

A push on the klaxon and a ring on the gongs
And then I was down where no mortal belongs
Where the air's going bad and the bread's getting stale
And they mix you a nightcap of diesel and shale
Diesel and shale, diesel and shale
They mix you a nightcap of diesel and shale

Oh Susie, dear Susie, oh, will you be mine?
Submariner's wives have a hell of a time
You'll live like a duchess with cash on the nail
If you don't mind the smell of the diesel and shale
Diesel and shale, diesel and shale
If you don't mind the smell of the diesel and shale

Keep walking, keep walking, you foolish young man
You know that I never would give you my hand
Your hair is too thin and your face is too pale
'Cause you spend too much time with your diesel and shale
Diesel and shale, diesel and shale
You spend too much time with your diesel and shale

We circled the Med. for a summer or two
Where the sun is so warm and the water so blue
Well, that's what they tell me, but I wouldn't know
'Cause the view ain't so good when you're stuck down below
With the diesel and shale, diesel and shale
When you're stuck down below with the diesel and shale

Then the big man at Dolphin he told me at last:
It's time you went back to a ship with a mast
I feel like a Jonah a-leaving the whale
'Cause I'm saying goodbye to the diesel and shale
The diesel and shale, diesel and shale
I'm saying goodbye to the diesel and shale

Oh Crabby, dear Crabby, I bid you adieu
And Synagogue Dick and the Black Mamba too
I'll do all me traveling by road and by rail
And you know what to do with your diesel and shale
Diesel and shale, diesel and shale
You know what to do with your diesel and shale