O the boys and the girls
went a huckleberry hunting
Ch: To my way-ay ah!
O, the girls began to cry,
and the boys they stop'd hunting
Ch: To my hi-lo, we'll ran-zo-way

Then a little girl ran off,
And a boy he ran after,
And the little girl fell down
And he saw her little garter.

He said, "I'll be your beau
If you'll have me for a feller,"
But the little girl said "No,
For my sweetheart's Johnny Miller."

The corsair, the Great Racer, is an ill-omened ship,
When she sets sail to hunt the English,
The wind, the seas, and the fight all go against the French.
Ch: Let's go, lads, cheerily, cheerily, let's go lads, so gaily!

She comes from Lorient with a good wind and sea,
She was hauling out on the port tack, sailing like a fish,
When a squall struck her tophamper an' the corsair was hulked.

We had to re-mast her, an' work like the devil,
While the job was progressin', there signaled from starboard,
A fine ship with port-covers on her guns.

As Englishman, in truth, with a double row of teeth,
Carrier of sudden death, but the Frenchman has no fear,
Instead of tryin' to escape, we challenge them to fight.

Their fire it rained upon us, we returned it shot for shot,
While her beard was singeing, in a great cloud of smoke,
She sailed away an' soon escaped us.

At the end of six months our prizes amounted to nothing more than three,
One ship, half sunk an' full of spuds,
The second with slippers for cargo, the third loaded with manure.

To recuperate from our fights, we had for our meals,
Dried beans and rancid bacon, vinegar instead of wine,
Biscuits long since rotten, an' morning camphor instead of coffee.

At the end of this fateful voyage, was our sinking as we made the port,
In this frightful distress, when each seaman saw himself lost,
We had to save ourselves, each one the best way he could.

The captain and his mate saved themselves on a gun,
The master using the great anchor, the steward in his grog-tub,
Ah, the wicked, bloody beggar, the robber of our rations!

You should have seen the cook, with his spoon an' meat-hook,
He got into his pot, like a horrid stew,
He went like the wind, made land like a thunderbolt.

For our horrible misfortune, the one responsible was the caulker,
Who, falling from the main-top, over the forecastle,
Bounced through the galley and smashed up the ship.

If this story of the Great Racer has touched your hears,
Have then the good manners to give generously,
Wine, rum, or beer, an' we shall all be happy.

Now, 'tis of a handsome female as you should understand,
She had a mind for roving unto some foreign land,
Attired in sailor's clothing she boldly did appear,
And engaged with a captain to serve him for a year.

She engaged with a captain, a cabin boy to be.
The wind it being in favor they proudly put to sea.
The captain's lady being on board she seemed in great joy,
To think the captain had engaged a handsome cabin boy.

So gentle was this pretty maid, she did her duty well;
Then what followed next, me boys, the song itself will tell:
The captain and this pretty maid did oftimes kiss and toy,
For he soon found out the secret of the handsome cabin boy.

Her cheeks were like the rosebuds and her sidelocks all in curl;
The sailors often smiled and said he looks just like a girl.
Through eating cabin biscuits her color did destroy,
And the waist did swell of pretty Nell, the handsome cabin boy.

As through the Bay o' Biscay our gallant ship did plow,
One night among the sailors there was an awful row;
They tumbled from their hammocks, it did their rest destroy,
They swore it was the groaning of the handsome cabin boy.

"Oh doctor! Oh, doctor!" the cabin boy did cry;
The sailors swore by all that's good the cabin boy would die.
The doctor he came runnin'-a-smilin' at the fun,
To think the sailor boy would have a daughter or a son.

Now when the sailors heard the joke, they all began to state;
"The child belongs to none of us," they solemnly did swear.
The lady to the captain said, "My dear, I wish you joy,
It's either you or I betrayed the handsome cabin boy!"