Irish traditional song lyrics — collected by Beer Belly Band.
‘Twas a cold and frosty morning in December
All of me money, it was spent,
Where it went to, Lord, I can’t remember
So I down to the shipping office went
Paddy lay back, Paddy lay back! Take in the slack, Take in the slack
Take a turn around the capstan, Heave away! Heave away!
About ship’s stations, boys, be handy,
We’re bound for Valparaiso ’round the Horn!
That day there was a great demand for sailors,
For the colonies, for ‘Frisco and for France.
So I shipped aboard a limey barge, the Hotspur,
An’ got paralytic drunk on my advance.
I woke up in the mornin’ sick an’ sore,
I knew I was on me way again;
I hear a voice a-bawlin’ at the door,
“Get up ya buggers, an’ answer to yer names.”
‘Twas on the quarterdeck where I first saw ’em.
Such an ugly bunch I never seen before,
For the captain shipped a shanghai crew of Dutchmen,
it made me poor ol’ heart feel sick and sore.
There was Spaniards an’ Dutchmen an’ Rooshians,
an’ Jolly Jacks across the sea from France.
An’ none of them could speak a word of English,
but answered to the name of `Month’s Advance!’
I wished I was in the “Jolly Sailor,”
along with Irish Kate a-drinking’ beer,
An’ then I thought what jolly chaps were sailors,
An’ with me flipper I wiped away a tear.