Come all you wild young men
And a warning take by me,
Never to lead your single life astray
And into no bad company.

As I myself have done,
It being in the merry month of May,
When I was pressed by a sea-captain
And on board a man-o-war I was sent.

We sailed on the ocean so wide
And our bonny bonny flag we let fly.
Let every man stand true to his gun
For the Lord knows who must die.

Oh our captain was wounded full sore
And so were the rest of his men.
Our main mast rigging it was scattered on the deck
So that we were obliged to give in.

Oh our decks they were spattered with blood
And so loudly the cannons did roar;
And thousands of times have I wished myself at home
And all along with my Polly on the shore.

She's a tall and a slender girl,
She's a dark and a-rolling eye,
And here am I lie a-bleeding on the deck
And for her sweet sake I would die.

So farewell to me parents and me friends,
Farewell my dear Polly too.
I'd ne'er would have crossed this salt sea so wide
If I had have been ruled by you.

Il était un petit navire,
II était un petit navire,
Qui n'avait ja-ja-jamais navigué,
Qui n'avait ja-ja-jamais navigué.

Au bout de cinq à six semaines,
Les vivres vinrent à manquer.

Ou fit tirer la courte paille,
Pour savoir qui serait mangé

Le sort tomba sur le plus jeune,
En sauce blanche il fut ange.

Il monta sur le mat de hune,
Et vit la mer de tour côtés.

"O Sainte Vierge, O ma patronne,
Preservez-mois de ce danger."

Des p'tits poissons dans le navire,
Sautèrent par milliers.

On les prit, on les mit à frire
Le jeune mousse fut sauvé.

Si cette histoire vous amuse,
Nous allons la recommencer.

De cap'n's in de pilot house ringin' de bell,
Ch: Who's on the way boys, who's on de way?
'N' de mate's down 'atween decks giv'n de niggas hell!
Ch: Tell me, whar yo' goin'?

When I sign on de cap'n say,
"On dis fine ship, no wo'k all play."

De mate he say "no wo'k on de ship,
Jes' lay aroun' an' enjoy de trip."

De mate he say "one trip up de lake,
Jes' set yo' up like a plutocrate."

Ah'd rudd'r be daid 'n' a'lyin' in de san',
Dan make a'nudda trip on de "Old Black Sam."

Her smokestack's black 'n' her whis'l's brown,
'N' I wish de Lawd ah'd a'stay'd in town.

Ah don' min' wo'kin' by de light o' de moon,
If de cap'n giv' us a half-hour noon.

"Git along, der, Mose, yo' feet ain't stuck,
Jes' hump yo' back an' push dat truck."

"Git along, der, Mose, push dat truck,
By 'n' by yo' dead, 'n' yo' have good luck."

Takes tons o' coppa' t' fill dat hol',
"Step along, der, nigga, damn yo' soul."

It's wo'k all night an' wo'k all day,
An' all yo' get am not half pay.

De mate say, "Sam, I'se raise yo' pay,
Yo' now git fifty cents a day!"

Roll 'em up dat long gangplank,
It make yo' thin 'n' lean 'n' lank.

City folks, dey's gon' to bed,
But we push coppa till we's dead.

De cap'n he give us a *tub o' suds,
It burn yo' belly 'n' rot yo' guts.

Jes' one drink fum de cap'n's tin,
'N' it makes yo' feel like commit'n sin.

Black boy, tick'l dat ol' banjo,
It lif' yo' heels an' make 'em go.

It make me think o' ma Liza Lou,
When she hear music, man! What she do!

Lake Superior's col'er 'n' ice,
Fall in jes' once, freeze all yo' lice.

Lake Superior's big an' rough,
'N' fo' dis nigga, one trip's enough.

It mus' be hours pas' dinna time,
'N' boss, ah's sho' da eat'n kind.

De Ward's boun' up, de Moran's boun' down,
'N' de John M. Nichol am hawd agroun'.

De Wm. H. Stevens is a'lyin' roun' de ben',
'N' all she's doin' is a'killin' good men.

Now I'se goin' back to Detrite,
'N' no more wo'k both day 'n' night.

'N' ah's goin' way down to Mobile
Whar white man bring de nigga's meal.

'N' ah's goin' down to Baltimore,
'N ah's ain't goin' to wo'k at all no more.