SAILORS PRAYER
Tom Lewis
This dirty town has been my home
since last time I was sailing,
But I'll not stay another day,
I'd sooner go out whaling,
Chorus:
Oh lord above, send down a dove
with beak as sharp as razors,
To cut the throats of them there blokes
what sells bad beer to sailors!
Paid off m' 'score' and then ashore,
m' money soon was flying,
With Judy Lee upon my knee
and in my ear she's lying.
Chorus:
With m' new-found friends,
m' money spends,
just as fast as winking,
But when I make to clear the slate
the landlord says: "Keep drinking!".
Chorus:
With m' payoff gone,
m' clothes in pawn
and Judy set for leaving,
Six months' of pay's gone in three days
but Judy isn't grieving.
Chorus:
When the crimp comes round
I'll take his pound
and his hand I'll be shaking,
Tomorrow morn' sail for The Horn
just as the dawn is breaking.
Chorus:
For one last trip from port I'll ship
but next time back I'm swearing,
I'll settle down in my home town,
no more I'll go seafaring!
Chorus:
***
SHALLOW BROWN
I am bound away to leave ya
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
I am bound away to leave ya
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
Master gonna sell me
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
Sell me for a dollar.
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
Sell me for a dollar.
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
A bright and shiny dollar.
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
​
Sell me to a Yankee
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
Sell me to a Yankee
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
Fair thee well my Julianna
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
I’m shipped aboard a whaler
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
I’m shipped aboard a whaler
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
Sail away - St. Georges
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
Bound away to leave ya
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
I am bound away to leave ya
Shallow, O Shallow Brown
***
SHOVE IT OVER
Procured by Zora Neale Hurston
Lakeland, FL 1933
​
When I get in Illinois
I’m gonna spread the news
about the Florida Boys
CHORUS
Shove it over, hey, hey, hey
Oh catch a line there
Ahh, shaka, laka, laka, laka,
laka, laka, UMMPF!
Can’t ‘cha move it, hey, hey hey
Oh can’t cha’ try
Any mo whiskers
and he won’t shave
Any mo body lice
and he won’t bathe
CHORUS
Oh the roosters chew tobacco,
the hen’s dippin snuff
The biddy can’t do it
but he struts his stuff
CHORUS
Here come a woman walking
down the field
Her mouth exhaustin’
like a automobile
CHORUS
The captain got a pistol
He try to be bad
But I’m gonna take it
if he make me mad
CHORUS
***
S
SANTIANNA ~ Lady Pirate version
The Navy would never have a lass at sea
Away Santianna
So I went in search of piracy
All along the coast of Mexico
​
CHORUS:
So heave her up and away we’ll go
Away Santianna
Heave her up and away we’ll go
All along the coast of Mexico
And now we sail the Southern Seas
Away Santianna
And we’ll have those lads
down on their knees
All along the coast of Mexico
CHORUS
​
In Mexico I want to be
Away Santianna
With a cask of rum on a drinkin’ spree
All along the coast of Mexico
CHORUS
​
When I was a young lass in my prime
Away Santianna
I had them sailor lads two at a time
All along the coast of Mexico
CHORUS
​
But I’d never leave the sea
to settle down
Away Santianna
When I can have a man in every town
All along the coast of Mexico
CHORUS
​
The times is hard and the riches low
Away Santianna
But we pirates must "row and yo”
All along the coast of Mexico
CHORUS
***
SHENANDOAH
First appeared in 1876 with notes that it
had been heard as early as 1850.
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you,
Way hey, you rolling river.
Shenandoah, I long to hear you
Ah-ha, we're bound away
'cross the wide Missouri.
Oh, Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Way hey, you rolling river.
Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Ah-ha, we're bound away
'cross the wide Missouri
Missouri she's a mighty river...
Wey hey, you rolling river.
When she rolls down, her topsails shiver...
Ah-ha, we're bound away
'cross the wide Missouri
Seven years, I courted Sally...
Wey hey, you rolling river.
Seven more, I longed to have her...
Ah-ha, we're bound away
'cross the wide Missouri
Farewell, my dear, I'm bound to leave you...
Wey hey, you rolling river.
Oh, Shenandoah, I'll not deceive you...
Ah-ha, we're bound away
'cross the wide Missouri
***
SKYE BOAT SONG
​
1st verse / CHORUS:
Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that’s born to be king
Over the sea to Skye.
​
Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air;
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare.
CHORUS:
​
Many’s the lad, fought on that day
Well the claymore did wield;
When the night came, silently lay
Dead on Culloden’s field.
CHORUS:
​
Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean’s a royal bed.
Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head.
CHORUS:
​
Burned are their homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men;
Yet ere the sword cool in the sheath
Charlie will come again.
CHORUS:
***
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Thought to be sung during the 19th century
Australian Gold Rush era.
In South Australia I was born
Heave away, haul away
South Australia, 'round Cape Horn
We're bound for South Australia
CHORUS:
Haul away your rolling kings
Heave away, haul away
Haul away, you’ll hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia
As I walked out one morning fair
Heave away, haul away
'Twas there I met Miss Nancy Blair
We're bound for South Australia
CHORUS​
I shook her up & shook her down
Heave away, haul away
I shook her round & round the town
We're bound for South Australia
CHORUS​​
I run her all night an’ run her all day
Heave away, haul away
I run her until we sailed away
We're bound for South Australia
CHORUS​
There ain’t but one thing
grieves me mind
Heave away, haul away
To leave Miss Nancy Blair behind
We're bound for South Australia
CHORUS​
When we go wallop 'round Cape Horn
Heave away, haul away
You'll wish to God
you've never been born
We're bound for South Australia
CHORUS​
I wish I was in Australia’s strand
Heave away, haul away
With a glass of whiskey in my hand
We're bound for South Australia
CHORUS​
***
SANTY ANNO
Traditionial Folk song - Lomax Collection 1935
Lyrics as sung by the Kingston Trio
​
We′re sailin' ′cross the river from Liverpool
Heave away, Santy Anno
Around Cape Horn to 'Frisco Bay
'Way out in Californio
​
CHORUS:
So, heave her up and away we′ll go
Heave away, Santy Anno
Heave her up and away we′ll go
'Way out in Californio
​
There′s plenty of gold, so I've been told
Heave away, Santy Anno
Plenty of gold, so I′ve been told
'Way out in Californio
​
CHORUS
​
Well, back in the days of forty-nine
Heave away, Santy Anno
Back in the days of the good old times
′Way out in Californio
​
CHORUS ~ 2 X
***
The SHOALS OF HERRING
Ewan MacColl & Luke Kelly
​
With our nets and gear we're fa-arin’
On the wild and wa-asteful o-o-cean
It's there, on the deep, that we harvest and
reap our bread
As we hunt the bonny shoals of herrin’
---
Oh, it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was fa-arin’
As a cabin boy on a sailin’ lugger
For to go and hunt the shoals of herrin’
​
Oh, the work was hard and the hours were long
And the treatment sure it took some bea-arin’
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals of herrin’
Oh, we fished the Swarte and the Broken Bank
I was cook and I'd a quarter-sha-arin’
And I used to sleep, standin’ on me feet
And I'd dream about the shoals of herrin’
We left the Home grounds
in the month of June
And to Canny Shields we soon was bea-arin’
With a hundred cran of the silver darlin’s
That we'd taken from the shoals of herrin’
​
You're net rope man now, always on the move
And you're learnin’ all about sea-fa-arin’
That's your education, scraps of navigation
As you hunt the bonny shoals of herrin’
Now you're up on deck; you're a fisherman
You can swear and show a manly bea-arin’
Take your turn on watch with the other fellas
While you're searchin’ for the shoals of herrin’
In the stormy seas and the living gales
Just to earn your daily bread you're da-arin’
From the Dover Straits to the Faroe Islands
As you're followin’ the shoals of herrin’
Well I earned me keep and I paid me way
And I earned the gear that I was wea-arin’
Sailed a million miles,
caught ten million fishes
We were sailin’ after shoals of herrin’
​
Night and day the seas we're da-arin’
Come wind or calm or winter gale
Sweatin’ or cold, growin’ up,
growin’ old - or dyin’
As you hunt the bonny shoals of herrin’
Neither men nor ships we're sparin'
As we waste the wild crop of the ocean
Sowin' no seed in the sea
for tomorrow's need
We may see no more the shoals of herrin'
***
SLOOP JOHN B - aka: John B Sails
*Performed by Cisco Houston
*Lee Hays of The Weavers adapted this old folk tune from the Bahamas from a version in poet Carl Sandburg's 1927 songbook The American Songbag.
We come on the Sloop John B,
my grandfather and me.
Around Nassau town we did roam.
Drinking all night, got into a fight.,
I feel so break up, I want to go home.
CHORUS:
So hoist up the John B's sails,
see how the main sail set,
Send for the captain ashore,
let me go home.
Let me go home, I want to go home,
I feel so break up, I want to go home.
Well the first mate, he got drunk,
and broke in the captain’s trunk,
Constable come aboard, take him away.
Sheriff John Stone, please let me alone.
I feel so break up, I want to go home.
CHORUS:
​
Well the poor cook he got fits,
threw away all the grits,
Then he took and ate up all of my corn.
Let me go home, I want to go home,
This is the worst trip I’ve ever been on.
CHORUS: 2x to fin.
***