Liverpool Bay by Matthew Edwards

Matthew's Comments:  This song is about the port of Liverpool where I live, which once thrived on the trade of shipping, including slavery, - it is said that the great mercantile buildings of the city are mortared with the blood of slaves.  It was also the port to which many came from all over Europe; from shtetls in Poland escaping vicious pogroms, from poor farms in Germany, and of course, from a life of poverty and famine in Ireland.   They sailed away down the Mersey to find what fortune awaited them in the New World, but many never even survived the voyage in some of the "coffin" ships.


The ships have gone, that proudly rode the waves,
To trade tobacco, cotton, rum, and slaves.
The ships have gone and sailed away,
No more to ride the waters of the bay.

God speed to those who've gone from here before,
To find their fortunes on a foreign shore;
Their ships have gone and sailed away,
No more to ride the waters of the bay.

Our ship has sailed, out on the evening tide,
Her sails were spread, her banners streaming wide;
And in the dying light of day,
She's slipped the harbour bar, and sailed away.

And while the Mersey's tides still rise and fall,
And Pier Head echoes to a seagull's call:
The ships have gone, and sailed away,
And silent are the waters of the bay.

Coda:
O I thought I heard the captain say,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her,
Go ashore and get your pay,
For its time for us to leave her.

One more pull, and then belay,
Leave her, Johnny, leave her,
We will sail no more in Liverpool Bay,
And its time for us to leave her.