083 - Goodbye Fare-ye-well (C)
This shanty was sung at the windlass or capstan when raising the anchor. Verses to this version are the 'Milkmaid' theme (see 'Blow the Man Down' page 210, first edition, of the "Shanties from the Seven Seas"). Is worth mentioning, that Stan Hugill disagreed with collectors and writers who hold a theory that homeward-bound songs were never debased by sailors. This version is an example of excerption from this theory (the "Milkmaid" version was entirely obscene). To recreate this song, I will use melody, heard on Stan Hugill's record, from the album "Chants des Marins Anglais" (1992), with Stormalong John.
"Shanties from the Seven Seas" by Stan Hugill (1st ed p 122).
Goodbye Fare-ye-well (C)
Oh, as I wuz a-rollin' down Ratcliffe Highway,
- Goodbye, fare-ye-well! goodbye, fare-ye-well!
A pretty young maiden I chanct for to see.
- Horraw, me boys, we're homeward bound!
*2*
Oh, where are ye goin' to, my pretty maid?
I'm going a milkin', kind sir, she said.
*3*
Oh, have ye a sweatheart, my pretty maid?
'I'm lookin' for one, kind sir,' she said.
*4*
Then may I come wid ye, my pretty maid?
'Well, yes, since ye axed me, sir,' she said.
*5*
'But I guess yer a bad one, kind sir,' she said.
'Ye want for to love me, but yer don't want ter wed,'
*6*
Jack took her in tow, an' away they did go,
The bulls did a grunt, an' the cows did a low.
*7*
They came to a haystack but the maid she wuz shy,
They backed and they filled an' heaved many a sigh.
*8*
The haystack capsized an' Jack got all bent,
With hay in his gaff-tops'l, his breeches all rent.
*9*
So he left her a-sittin' a-lookin' forlorn,
An' shipped to the south'ard away round Cape Horn.
*10*
Now, all ye young sailors that round the Horn sail,
Don't take a young milkmaid away from her pail.
*11*
Or else ye'll regret it an' wish ye were dead,
So don't go a-courtin' in a haystack for a bed.
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