All for my Grog is a traditional folk song popular aboard ships and within pubs. It tells the tale of a man who sells all he can for alcohol and tobacco, leaving him with only the most decrepit belongings. The title of this song is often given as some variant of "Across the Western Ocean" due to the chorus, but the melody is distinct from the better known song of that title.
Grog originally referred to the daily ration of rum, sometimes watered down, afforded to sailors in the Royal Navy. It has since taken to mean any variety of alcoholic beverage, especially in sailing contexts.
The earliest written records of this song are in manuscripts collected by Cecil Sharp (1904) and Gardiner (1906). Peter Kennedy's version was taken from the singing of Bill and Harry Westaway of Belstone in 1950. Helen Creighton, in Songs and Ballads of Nova Scotia (1932), records of her version:
It is quite possible that this song was composed for music-hall entertainment by one who had knowledge of the sea. The chorus has probably been borrowed from a genuine sea song. Both in words and music this is faintly suggestive of The Little Old Shanty, and is sung to the same air as the verse. Lomax (Cowboy Songs), pp. 187, 189, which in its turn is a parody of The Little old Log Cabin In the Lane.
The Dubliners version reached No. 10 on the Irish charts in 1967.
A tile in the Kennedy version is a hat.