M' father often told me, when I was just a lad, A sailor's life was very hard, the food was always bad. But now I've joined the Navy, I'm on board a man-o'-war And now I find a sailor ain't a sailor any more.
ChorusDon't haul on the rope. Don't climb up the mast. If you see a sailing ship it might be your last. Get your civvies ready for another run ashore. A sailor ain't a sailor, ain't a sailor any more.
The killick of our mess, he says we've had it soft. It wasn't like this in his day when he was up aloft. We like our bunks and sleeping bags, but what's a hammock for? Swinging from the deckhead or lying on the floor? They gave us an engine that first went up and down, Then with more technology the engine went around. We're good with steam and diesel, but what's a mainyard for? A stoker ain't a stoker with a shovel any more. They gave us an Aldis lamp, we can do it right, They gave us a radio, we signal day and night. We know our codes and ciphers, but what's a sema for? A bunting tosser doesn't toss the bunting any more. Two cans of beer a day, that's your bleeding lot! But now we get an extra two because they stopped the tot. So we'll put on our civvy clothes and find a pub ashore. A sailor's still a sailor, just like he was before.

Source: Tom Lewis's website (tomlewis.net)

Tom Lewis wrote A Sailor Ain’t a Sailor, also called The Last Shanty, and recorded it on his first solo album, Surfacing (1987). Lewis served 24 years in the Royal Navy, mostly in submarines, and the song is a sailor’s joke about how far the modern navy has come from sail: engines instead of yards, radio instead of flags, bunks instead of hammocks.

The slang is real navy usage. A killick is a small anchor, originally a stone lashed in a wooden frame, and in the Royal Navy it is the nickname for a leading hand, the most junior rank with charge of other sailors, whose sleeve badge is an anchor. The killick of the mess is the leading hand in charge of a mess deck. A bunting tosser is a signalman, and sema is short for semaphore. “They stopped the tot” refers to the end of the Royal Navy’s daily rum ration on July 31, 1970, known as Black Tot Day.

It has become one of the most widely sung modern shanties. Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends recorded it on Suck'em and Sea (2000) and again on later albums.