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Hearts of Gold
Lyrics

Reviews | Song Information and Liner Notes

    Hearts of Gold
C'est L'Aviron
Pump Shanty
Companioned By the Sea
London Julies
The Wreck of the Lady Washington
Homeward Bound
Hob Y Derri Dando
The Wreckers
Bay of Biscay
Sail Away
The Essequibo River


Hearts of Gold
traditional

It was the plowing of the raging seas
Was always my delight
While those loving old landlubbers
No dangers do they know
Not like we long Jack Hearts of Gold
Who plow the ocean through
Not like we long Jack Hearts of Gold
Who plow the ocean through

They are always with the pretty girls
A setting them fine treats
And filling of their pretty heads
With the work they've done in a corn field
But the cutting of the grass and weeds
It's all that they can do
While we long Jack Hearts of Gold
Plough the ocean through

And when the sun it does go down
They must lay aside their plow
And their work they can no longer stand
It's homeward they must go
And they take their suppers with content
And into bed they crawl
While we long Jack Hearts of Gold
Stand many the bitter squall

The seas they run full mountains high
Which toss us up and down
We are in the midst of danger boys,
For fear our ship might found
Oh, but never be down hearted boys
We'll see our girls again
In spite of all our enemies
We will plow the raging main

We will sing to every port of land
Which every yet was known
We will bring back gold and silver boys
When we return to home
And we'll make our courtships flourish Boys
when we arrive on shore
And when our money is all gone
We'll plow the seas for more

So, come all you pretty damsels
If the truth you only knew
Of the dangers of the raging main
From labors unto you
You would have more contempt for them
Than ever yet was known
You would hate those loving landlubbers
Who always stay at home

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C'est L'Aviron
traditional

En revenant de la jolie Rochelle
En revenant de la jolie Rochelle
J'ais recontre trois jolies demoiselles

C'est l'aviron qui nous mene,
qui nous mene
C'est l'aviron qui nous mene en haut
C'est l'aviron qui nous mene,
qui nous mene
C'est l'aviron qui nous mene en haut

J'ai recontre trois jolies demoiselles
J'n'ai point choisi
mais j'ai pris la plus belle

J'la fit monter derriere moi sur ma selle
Je l'ai menee aupres d'une fountaine

Quand elle fut la,
elle ne voulut point boire
Je l'ai menee au logis de son pere

Quand elle fut la,
elle buvait un plein verre
A la sante de son pere et de sa mere

A la sante de son pere et de sa mere
A la sante de ses soeurs et de ses freres

A la sante de ses soeurs et de ses freres
A la sante de celui que son coeur aime

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Pump Shanty
© Tony Goodenough

They say life has its ups and downs
That really now is quite profound
I'd like to push the capstan round
But it's pump me boys before we drown.
Pump me boys, pump 'er dry
Down to hell and up to the sky
Bend your back and break your bones
We're just a thousand miles from home.

The ocean we all do adore
So come on lads let's pump some more
Don't worry if you're stiff and sore
I'm sure we've pumped this bit before.

The captain's daughter, I suppose
Could be called an English Rose
What would you think when I propose
The pox she gave to me a dose.

This Rose well she did prick me sore,
I've never felt so bad before
Thanks to the girl I do adore
I thought I'd never pump no more.

I called the doctor right away
To find out what he had to say
“That's two pounds ten - get on your way”
I'm sure the girl is in his pay.

Sometimes when I am in me bed
And thinking of me day ahead
I wish that I could wake up dead
But pumping's all I get instead.

Yes, how I wish that I could die
The swine who built this tub to find
I'd drag him back from where he fries
To pump until the beggar's dry.

If Noah used him for his ark
Oh wouldn't that have been a lark?
>From rising sun 'til getting dark
The animals all hard at work (singin')

There's so much water down below
Just how it got there I don't know
The old man says, “Let's roll and go”
But I think we're bound for Davy Jones.

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Companioned By the Sea
Marjorie Howell

My little house rides like a gull
High on the shore above the bay
By the slow passage of the tides
I measure out my day
There is much that life withholds
There is much that life denies
I am content, and most content
With seaward gazing eyes

My dreams sail with the tall white ships
Though I must ever bide at home
I share the blue of singing space
The bitter kiss of foam
The pageantry of storm and cloud
The mystery of the ebb and flow
The song of water as I sleep
All of these I know

No lesser joy can dim the spell
Of quietly enchanted hours
When the sea wore reflected stars
Upon her breast like flowers
Brine scented dawns, seafaring greens
How richly these have dowered me
That I should go through all my days
Companioned by the sea


London Julies
traditional

Julianna, Julianna, Oh where do you go?
Ah ha, me London Julies
Julianna, Julianna, Oh where do you go?
Ah ha, me London Julies

Up aloft up aloft this yard must go
Ah ha, me London Julies
Up aloft up aloft this yard must go
Ah ha, me London Julies

And around Cape Horn
There's ice & snow
Ah ha, me London Julies
But around Cape Horn we all must go
Ah ha, me London Julies

The mate is a bawling down below
Ah ha, me London Julies
so heave away, lash up and stow
Ah ha, me London Julies

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The Wreck of the Lady Washington
© Mikki Perry

It was nineteen hundred and ninety one
On October the seventeenth day
When the gallant ship,
The Lady Washington
From Pasco sailed away (brave souls),
From Pasco sailed away.

The lookout on the foremast peak
Teddy Keyes so young and fair
He would guide them under
The railroad bridge,
With only four feet to spare (brave souls),
With only four feet to spare.

They were one hundred feet
From the railroad bridge
When a green light turned to red
“Reverse engines, come about”,
Ted cried out
“The bridge is coming down ahead”
(brave souls),
“The bridge is coming down ahead”.

They were doing four knots
And the current was swift,
That ship just could not stop.
Captain Sandy pulled the tiller,
And he turned her half around,
As the bridge continued to drop
(brave souls),
As the bridge continued to drop.

As the bridge came down
The lookout aloft
Tried to push that bridge away.
It was a reflex thing
And he knew that it was dumb,
But he tried it anyway (brave soul),
He tried it anyway.

And the bridge came down
She was struck broadside,
And the mainmast and gaff did crack,
But she didn't capsize,
And no lives were lost,
And she'll probably never come back
(any more),
She'll probably never come back.

The twenty six passengers
Aboard that ship
Were shaken, dazed and pale.
They never reached Umatilla that day,
But they'll never forget that sail
(brave souls),
They'll never forget that sail.

“To lose our mast”, the captain said,
“It grieves my heart full sore,
But to be struck down
By a railroad bridge,
It grieves me ten times more
(brave souls),
It grieves me ten times more.”

Oh Pasco is a dreadful place
It's a land that's seldom green,
Where the dust storms blow,
And the trains come and go,
But the tall ships are seldom seen
(brave souls).
The tall ships are seldom seen.

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Homeward Bound
William Allingham

Head the ship for England!
Shake out every sail!
Blithe leap the billows,
Merry sings the gale.
Captain, work the reckoning;
How many knots a day? -
Round the world and home again,
That's the sailor's way!

We've traded with the Yankees,
Brazilians and Chinese;
We've laughed with dusky beauties
In the shade of tall palm trees;
Across the line and Gulf-Stream
Round by Table Bay -
Everywhere and home again,
That's the sailor's way!

Nightly stands the North Star
Higher on our bow;
Straight we run for England;
Our thoughts are in it now.
Jolly time with friends on shore
When we've drawn our pay; -
All about and home again,
That's the sailor's way!

Tom will to his parents;
Jack will to his dear;
Joe to wife and children;
Bob to pipes and beer;
Dicky to the dancing-room,
to hear the fiddles play; -
Round the world and home again,
That's the sailor's way!

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Hob Y Derri Dando
traditional

I'll sing the bass and you sing the solo
Hob-y-derri-dando
All about the clipper ship the Marco Polo
Can-y-gan-y-eto
See her rolling through the water
Jane sweet Jane
Wish I was in bed
with the old man's daughter

Jane, Jane, come to the glen
To sing praise to Sean Foch Foyn

Davy, Davy comes from Nevin
An' he's got a sweet little engine
An he thinks so much about it
That he cannot do without it

Crusher Bailey had a sister
Laughed like blazes
when you kissed her
Couldn't knit nor darn no stocking
But what she could do was shocking

Johnny Jones, he wants a missus
someone to keep him warm with kisses
take him round to Bailey's sister
she's so hot she'll raise a blister

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The Wreckers
© Sarah Davis

Respectable people take to your beds
For the night it is dark and it's stormy
Turn your head to the wall
And hear nothing at all
For the cart is starting its journey
Out of the town up to the downs
Along the cliff path it is going
Twelve men and a cart
Out in the dark
Best not to ask where they're going

On a stormy night with a false light
The wreckers are down
Mid rock and mid foam
Pity the sailor who's on the salt sea
Thinking he's not far from home

Laden low in the sea swell
Beckoned on by the light she knows well
Unaware of the rocks until it's too late
And another ship moves to her fate
Then it's time to work fast busy at last
Gathering all that reaches the shore
If bodies arrive making sure none survive
The silenced tongue can tell no tales
chorus

The wreckers work hard
All through the dark night
Long ago they extinguished
That treacherous light
When dawn comes around
More people are found
Gathering flotsam and jetsam
Then it's back down the path
Homeward at last
There to divide the spoils of the night
Of one thing be sure naught will be said
Of twelve tired men
And twelve empty beds
chorus

The squire's wife wears a new dress of red
With no trace of salt
Or those who are dead
The innkeeper's serving the finest of rum
And the squire is drinking strong brandy
Life will go on there's nothing to fear
Nothing to see and nothing to hear
Respectable people who turn to the wall
Need have no shame, no guilt at all

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Bay of Biscay
traditional

My Willy sails on board the tender
And where he is I do not know
For seven long years
I've been constantly waiting
Since he crossed the Bay of Biscay-oh

One night as Mary lay sleeping
A knock came to her bedroom door
Saying “Arise, arise, my dearest Mary
For to earn one glimpse of your Willy-oh”

Young Mary rose, put on her clothing
And to the bedroom door did go
And there she spied her Willy standing
His two pale cheeks as white as snow

“Oh Willy dear where are those blushes
Those blushes I knew long years ago?”
“Oh Mary dear - the cold clay ashed them
I am only the ghost of your Willy -oh”

“Oh Mary dear, the dawn is breaking
Don't you think it's time for me to go?
I am leaving you quite broken hearted
For to cross the Bay of Biscay-oh”

“If I had all the gold and silver
And all the money in Mexico
I would grant it all to the king of Erin
For to bring me back my Willy-oh”

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Sail Away
© Mary Benson

Met him on a fine spring day
Sailed his ship into our bay
Came ashore and made his way
Said no words of going home
chorus:
Sail away, sail away
Johnny's sailing home today
Sail away, sail away
Johnny's going home

Stole my heart, he stole the key
Gave a promise to love only me
But now he's leaving he says I'm free
All he thinks of is going home
chorus

Think I'll go down to the sea
Walk along the lonely quay
Now there's nothing left here for me
Lovely Johnny has gone back home
chorus

So beware, oh sisters mine
Of sailor lads so young and fine
For soon they'll leave you alone to pine
When they leave to sail back home
chorus

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The Essequibo River
traditional

Oh the Essequibo River
is the king of rivers all
Oh the Essequibo River
is the king of rivers all

Somebody oh Johnny Somebody oh
Buddy ta na na we are somebody oh
Somebody oh Johnny, somebody oh
Buddy ta na na we are somebody oh

The Essequibo bo'sun
is the king of bo'suns all
Buddy ta na na we are somebody oh

The Essequibo sailor
is the king of sailors all
Buddy ta na na we are somebody oh

The Essequibo captain
is the king of captains all
Buddy ta na na we are somebody oh

The Essequibo Judy
is the queen of Judies all
Buddy ta na na we are somebody oh

The Essequibo River
is the king of rivers all
The Essequibo River
is the king of rivers all

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