GOOD-BYE, MY LOVER, GOOD-BYE (chantey)

A farmer boy stands on the deck,
Good-bye, my lover, good-bye.
He's eatin' peanuts by the peck,
Good-bye, my lover, good-bye,
Good-bye, aye, good-bye, my lads,
Good-bye, my lover, good-bye.

He came on board in his Sunday clothes,
Good-bye, my lover, good-bye.
In his Sunday hat and his Sunday hose,
etc.

He should a'stayed with his mules and plow,
He thinks the rudder's in the bow.

He walks the deck with farmer's feet.
He don't know a halyard from a sheet.

He thinks himself a hell of a tar,
As he pushes around a caps'n bar.

He thinks himself the old ship's match,
He don't know his stern from the after hatch.

He thinks from evenin' till morning light,
In his warm bed he'll dream all night,

The mate will say, "Wow, mister Jack,
This chair'll be easier on your back!"

When the night winds blow and the seas they roar,
He'll curse the day he left the shore.

When the green seas roll across our deck,
He'll pray the Lord for to save his neck.

When the old ship rolls all day 'n' night,
It'll turn him green and blue and white.

When he has to go aloft at night,
He'll soil his drawers in his awful fright.

At him the Old Man looks so grim,
He thinks his eyes is a'gettin' dim.

He'll know aloft from down below,
Before we sight old Buffalo.


Coll. from Captain Thomas Hylant of Buffalo and George Leach of St. Clair,
Michigan. "...frequently used on grain boats in Chicago and Milwaukee when all
hands worked the capstan kedging a vessel out of her loading dock or raising
anchor preparatory to towing out of the harbor for a down trip to Buffalo."

With music, pp. 46-47, I. H. Walton and Joe Grimm, 2002, "Windjammers, Songs of
the Great Lakes Sailors." Wayne State University Press.

@sea
filename[ GBYELOVR
QX
Feb07
mudcat.org

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