Art:Pirate Songs and Shanties

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Pirate Songs and Shanties

Here are a collection of pirate shanties. If ye add to the list please give credit to the authors of the songs or the site you found them on.

Fifteen Men on a Deadman's Chest

By Allison and Waller, from a 1901 musical based on Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island. 

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike
The bosun brained with a marlinspike
And cookey's throat was marked belike
It had been gripped by fingers ten;
And there they lay, all good dead men
Like break o'day in a boozing ken
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. 

2. Fifteen men of the whole ship's list
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Dead and be damned and the rest gone whist!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
The skipper lay with his nob in gore 
Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shore
And the scullion he was stabbed times four
And there they lay, and the soggy skies
Dripped down in up-staring eyes
In murk sunset and foul sunrise
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. 

3. Fifteen men of 'em stiff and stark
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ten of the crew had the murder mark!
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers' glut with a rotting red
And there they lay, aye, damn my eyes
Looking up at paradise
All souls bound just contrawise
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. 

 4. Fifteen men of 'em good and true - '
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Ev'ry man jack could ha' sailed with Old Pew,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
There was chest on chest of Spanish gold
With a ton of plate in the middle hold
And the cabins riot of stuff untold,
And they lay there that took the plum
With sightless glare and their lips struck dumb
While we shared all by the rule of thumb,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! 

5. More was seen through a sternlight screen...
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Chartings undoubt where a woman had been
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
'Twas a flimsy shift on a bunker cot
With a dirk slit sheer through the bosom spot
And the lace stiff dry in a purplish blot
Oh was she wench or some shudderin' maid
That dared the knife and took the blade 
By God! she had stuff for a plucky jade
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. 

6. Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
We wrapped 'em all in a mains'l tight
With twice ten turns of a hawser's bight
And we heaved 'em over and out of sight,
With a Yo-Heave-Ho! and a fare-you-well
And a sudden plunge in the sullen swell
Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell,
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

Blow the Man Down

author unknown 

Come all ye young sailors that follow the sea
(Way hey, blow the man down)
You must pay attention now listen to me
(Give me some time to blow the man down)
 
I'm a salty old pirate set sail from Hong Kong
(Way hey, blow the man down)
Give me some whiskey, I'll sing you my song
(Give me some time to blow the man down)
 
'Twas on a Black Baller I first served my time
(Way hey, blow the man down)
And on that Black Baller I wasted me prime
(Give me some time to blow the man down)
 
Now when the big liner, she's clear of land
(Way hey, blow the man down)
The bosun he roars out the word of command
(Give me some time to blow the man down)
 
Come quickly, lay aft to the break of the poop
(Way hey, blow the man down)
Or I'll help you along with the toe of me boot
(Give me some time to blow the man down)
 
'Tis larboard and starboard, on deck you will sprawl
(Way hey, blow the man down)
For Captain Van Wrinkle commands the Black Ball
(Give me some time to blow the man down)

Drunken Sailor

Traditional - Lyrics from Capstan Bars, by David Bone 

What shall we do with a drunken sailor? 
What shall we do with a drunken sailor? 
What shall we do with a drunken sailor, 
Early in the morning? 

Put him in th' long boat and make him bail her, 
Put him in th' long boat and make him bail her, 
Put him in th' long boat and make him bail her, 
Early in the morning. 

Way-a hay-a, up she rises, 
Way-a hay-a, up she rises, 
Way-a hay-a, up she rises, 
Early in the morning.

Additional verses

Throw him in th' bilge and make him drink it, 

Put him in the bilge and make him drink it,

Put him in his cabin and stop his liquour, 

Shave his belly with a rusty razor, 

Trice him up in a runnin' bowline, 

Take him and shake him and try and wake him, 

Give him a taste o' the bosun's rope end, 

Tie him to the taff-rail when she's yard-arm under, 

Put 'em to bed with the Captain's daughter,

Stick him in the crow's nest till he's sober, 

Hang him from the yard arm till he's sober, 

Put him in the brig until he sobers, 

Put him in scuppers with a hausepipe on him, 

Put on his back a mustard plaster, 

Put him in the long boat 'til he's sober,

Pull out the bung and wet him all over,

Put him in the scuppers with the deck pump on him,

Heave him by the leg in a runnin, bowlin,

Soak 'im in oil till he sprouts some flippers,

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