Big Bow Wow

From Yarmouth Harbour we set sail,
The wind was blowin' the devil of a gale;
All our ring tails set and our bafflin' was in peak,
And our dolphin striker is a-ploughin' up the deep.

With a big bow wow,
Tow row row,
Fol dee rol dee ride all day.

Our captain comes up from down below,
He looks aloft and he looks alow;
He looks alow and he looks aloft,
Sayin' coil those ropes boys, fore and aft.

With a big bow wow,
Tow row row,
Fol dee rol dee ride all day.

Then back to his cabin he quickly crawls,
Unto his steward he loudly calls;
Go bring me a glass that will make me cough,
For it's better weather here than it is up aloft.

With a big bow wow,
Tow row row,
Fol dee rol dee ride all day.

It's we poor sailors standin' on the deck,
With the blasted rain pourin' down our necks;
Not a drop of grog will he to us afford,
But he damns our eyes with every other word.

With a big bow wow,
Tow row row,
Fol dee rol dee ride all day.

Now there's one thing we sailors crave,
For him to find a watery grave;
We'll shove him down in a dark deep hole,
Where the sharks will have his body, and the devil take his soul.

With a big bow wow,
Tow row row,
Fol dee rol dee ride all day.

####.... With a chorus borrowed from an influential music-hall song of the mid-nineteenth century, this is a foc'sle song or forebitter popular between the years 1860 and 1870, first printed by Captain W. B. Whall, Master Mariner (1837-1925?) Sea Songs And Shanties (Brown, Son and Ferguson, Glasgow, 1910) ....####

Arranged and recorded by Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne (Wave Over Wave, Old And New Songs Of Atlantic Canada, 1995). ECMA Roots/Traditional Artist Nominee (1997).

See more Jim Payne songs.