FLASH NELL

There is a young damsel, a damsel of fame,
A Moll of the Highway, Flash Nell is her name.
She cruised in "the Bay" and loudly did bawl,
"Rig out your long jib booms, you bellox and all."

Her dress she unbent; she brailed up her chemise,
And hauled down her silk stockings my actions to please.
She slipped my jib boom 'tween her lily white thighs,
Saying "Bli' me young sailor, oh ain't it a size."

I rode her a watch and an hour or so more,
'Till my jib boom fell limber and my bobstay grew sore,
I emptied my bellox and felt I was done,
No charge in the locker to fire off my gun.

For quarter, "Oh quarter," to her I did cry,
"No quarter bold sailor," Flash Nell did reply;
"You hare the best quarters that I can afford;
So, 'turn to' with your fucking or jump overboard."

Singing fal the ral dadee dal de dal dal day.

"The above dates probably from the middle of the last
century, when Ratcliffe Highway, London, was at it's 'best'
teeming with whores and 'Homeward Bounders' from the Indias
China and Australia. 'The Bay' was a sailor designation
for Tiger Bay or Pennington Street. It lies off and paralell
with the Ratcliffe Highway."

M. D. Little

c1926. Text #3915. The Gordon Inferno Collection


See here: https://archive.org/details/1917gordoninfernocollection/page/3914/mode/1up?q=highway