1960s B/W British film.. 'the big ship sailed through the ailey ailey oo'

[nd1985]

Hi, I hope I have spelt the title correctly. Basically I am a 25 year old who knows absolutely nothing about 1960s cinema.I am, however, looking for a classic British film from the 1960s (or so I am told). I have not seen the film myself but I do know that it features the song/nursery rhyme 'the big ship sailed through the ailey ailey oo'. I have posted a link to the song below, I hope this is allowed, the video linked is not mine. This cannot surely be seen as advertising, noone will benefit from this but it may help solve my problem.I am hoping to discover the title of the film so that I can then purchase the VHS (or even DVD, if it turns out to be available) for my Father for Christmas.Thank you for taking up your own time to read this and (hopefully) assits me. It is very much appreciated.Best Regards;Neil

[cassidy]

A Taste of Honey.

Hi, I hope I have spelt the title correctly. Basically I am a 25 year old who knows absolutely nothing about 1960s cinema.I am, however, looking for a classic British film from the 1960s (or so I am told). I have not seen the film myself but I do know that it features the song/nursery rhyme 'the big ship sailed through the ailey ailey oo'. I have posted a link to the song below, I hope this is allowed, the video linked is not mine. This cannot surely be seen as advertising, noone will benefit from this but it may help solve my problem.I am hoping to discover the title of the film so that I can then purchase the VHS (or even DVD, if it turns out to be available) for my Father for Christmas.Thank you for taking up your own time to read this and (hopefully) assits me. It is very much appreciated.Best Regards;Neil

[cornershop15]

By the recently - and sadly - late Shelagh Delaney. Well done, cassidy. You just beat me to it. For the original poster, here's the Wikipedia page:

A Taste of Honey

[wadey]

The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
The ally-ally-oh, the ally-ally-oh
Oh, the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
On the last day of September.

The captain said it will never, never do
Never, never do, never, never do
The captain said it will never, never do
On the last day of September.

The big ship sails

[Richard_in_wales]

Ebay DVD

A Taste Of Honey (DVD) New UK Region 2 (5055201805355) | eBay

Just over £7 delivered.

[Iminaright2an8]

What exactly IS the ally-ally-oh? I always took it to be the Manchester ship canal..but i've since learnt the nursery rhyme predates the canal. . ..

[wadey]

Nursery Rhyme Origins

The rhyme and song was often sang by children playing skipping games, the lyrics suited the ritual chants for children 'jumping in' the skipping ropes. Perhaps the term 'big ships' provide a clue to the origins. The Manchester Ship canal was opened in 1894 and is the eighth-longest ship canal in the world, being only slightly shorter than the Panama Canal in Central America. The MSC was built for ocean-going ships - there were only six ships in the world too big to use the Ship Canal. These big ships started their journeys on the canal which led to the sea. The Manchester Ship Canal connected Manchester, W England, with the Mersey estuary at Eastham, Birkenhead. Perhaps this is the origin of the song...

The big ship sails

[jaycad]

I thought the 'alley oh' was the Atlantic Ocean? The rhyme was very popular in the playgrounds of Liverpool.

[CALF28]

This film was a Daily Telegraph freebie so it might turn up on Ebay. It'll be the cheapest option.

[Susanne]

it was also a skipping rhyme in east lancashire and was very popular.

[Barnstormer]

At the age of five I always thought the rhyme related to the Titanic sinking in the Atlantic ocean. In all fairness I haven't given it much thought in the nearly forty years since then lol.