This is the first of the two versions from Stanley Slade, from Stan Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas. This one is about the same as what Charley Noble posted above, but I thought I'd inclued this one since it's from a documented source.

ABOARD THE KANGAROO

1. Once I was a waterman an' lived a life of ease
But now I am a mariner ploughing the angry seas

CHORUS
I never thought she would be false
Or ever prove untrue
As we sailed away from Bristol quay
On board of the Kangaroo


2. I thought I'd like seafarin' life, so I bid my love adieu,
And sailed away as bosun's mate, aboard of the Kangaroo.

3. You would not say it was her wealth that stole me heart away,
She was starcher at a launderer's for eighteen-pence a day.

4. My love she was no foolish girl, her age it was two-score,
My love she was no spinster, she'd been married twice before.

5. Paid off I sought her dwelling 'way on Bristol Down,
Where an ancient dame upon a line was hangin' out her gown.

6. 'Where is my love?' 'She's married, sir, about six months ago,
To a smart young man who's commander of a barge that trades in
coal.

7. Farewell to dreams of married life, to soapsuds and the blue,
Farewell to all the Bristol gals, they're fickle-minded too.

8. I'll seek some distant foreign clime, no longer will I stay,
An' on some Chinese Hottentot I'll throw this life away!


from Hugill's notes: As to the name of the ship Mr. Slade writes: 'There was a schooner named Kangaroo, 84 registered tons, built at Douglas in 1867, and owned by Mrs. Eleanor Qualtrough of Douglas, I.O.M. There were also two others, one owned in Halifax, N.S., and one in St. John's, New foundland.' There was a sailing steamer also named Kangaroo.

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Click to play

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There are two full versions, some tunes, and a fragment in the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection. I'll post the lyrics an tune if anybody wants them, but they're more-or-less the same as the two Hugill versions.

-Joe Offer-