Saltpeter Shanty

For the Spanish main we are bound away
CH: Oh roll (or "Slav Ho")
For the Spanish main we are bound away
CH: Oh roll (or "Slav Ho")
We are sailing away at the break of day where the swift bonniter (sp? it's a fish) & dolphin do play
CH: Oh roll, rock her bars, heave'er hi-o rock'er roll. (or "Slav ho, slav viter, asay ya marita, slav ho" don't know what language or what it means)

To old Cally-o we are bound away
CH: Oh roll
To old Cally-o we are bound away
CH: Oh roll
We are bound away from Liverpool Bay
Oh them puntas of Chile will grab all our pay
CH: Oh roll, rock her bars, heave'er hi-o, rock'er roll

Old Pedro the crimp, boys we know him of old (2X)
He's priming his, vino and doping his beer
To the Chinchas he'll ship us if we don't steer clear

Them putas (vulgar term for women) o' chili they'er hard to beat (2X)
They'll greet us & love us & treat us to wine
But them bastards are robbing us most of the time

When the order comes round for to sail away home(2X)
From some old seaport on the west coast of hell
We'll sing adious & say fare thee well

The 1st verse I picked up off Ewan MacColl about 15 yrs ago as the shanty "Slav Ho", that's all he had. About 3 yrs back at a sing I caught David Perry doing it. From that I found the rest above version in Hugill's Shanties of the Seven Seas, except for the last verse, which came from the singing of Pint & Dale, who are the only ones I know that have it recorded. Also see J. Colcord (Slav Ho). This, says Stan, comes from the saltpeter & guano trades of the west coast of South America. Barry ^^

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Different version from Barry in this message (click)