OK, so here's what I hear on the Dick Holdstock recording. I've known him for over ten years, and I still can't say I understand him completely. Dick says this is from a broadside, but I have known him to use his imagination at times.
His scholarship is impeccable, but sometimes I can't tell when he's pulling my leg...
-Joe-

---

Drink Old England Dry

Oh, drink round right, boys, and never give o'er;
Drink round right, boys, as you have done before.
Old Boney he has sent us a fresh reply,
He swears that he will come and drink Old England Dry.

(Chorus:) Aye dry, aye dry me boys, aye dry,
He swears that he will come and drink old England dry.
(last line of chorus repeats last line of each verse)

Ofttimes, ofttimes, old Boney, he has said,
If England would receive him, no taxes need be paid;
We'd rather not believe him, for fear that he should lie,
For fear that he should come and drink old England dry.

Lord Collingwood, of high renown,
Swore he'd fight for his king, his country, and his crown;
His crown, king, and country, he will fight until he dies,
He'll fight before they'll come and drink old England dry.

And if we meet with the French all on the high seas,
Ten thousand to one that we should not agree;
But cannons they will rattle, and the bullets swiftly fly,
Before that they should come and drink old England dry.



transcribed by ear from the Holdstock and MacLeod album, Deepwater Return.