Joe Offer has asked me to post the lyrics of the songs that exist on my Soundcloud account of Transportation Songs -ie on: https://soundcloud.com/tim-radford/sets/penal-transportation-songs So here they are below. Tim Radford HERE'S ADIEU TO ALL JUDGES & JURIES. (As collected from George Blake on May 30th 1906 ) Here's adieu to all judges & juries Here's adieu to you bailiffs also Seven years you've parted me from my true love Seven years I'm transported you know. Oh Polly I'm going for to leave you For seven long years or more But the time it will seem but one moment When I think on the girl I adore. Going to some strange country don't grieve me Nor leaving old England behind But it's all for the sake of my Polly And my comrades I'm leaving behind. And if ever I return for the ocean Store of riches I'll bring my dear It's all for the sake of my Polly II'll cross the salt sea without fear. How hard is my place of confinement That keeps me from my hearts delight Cold chains & cold irons around me And a plank for my pillow at night. Oftimes I have wished that some eagle Would lend me her wings for to fly I would fly to the arms of my Polly And on her sweet bosom I'll lie. Repeat verse 1 HERE'S ADIEU TO ALL JUDGES AND JURIES Here's adieu to all judges and juries Justice and Old Bailey too Seven years you've transported my true love Seven years he's transported you know Oh hard is the place of confinement That leads me from my heart's delight Cold irons and chains all bound round me And a plank for me pillow at night Oh if I had the wings of an eagle High up on these pinions I'd fly I'd fly to the arms of my true love And in her soft bosom I'd lie Oh me love she is dark and she's proper My love's like the linnet in spring Oh the nightingale sleeps in her bosom And love do fly high on her wing Oh if e'er I return from the ocean Scores of riches I'll bring for my dear And it's all for the sake of my true love I will cross the salt seas without fear Here's adieu to all judges and juries Justice and Old Bailey too Seven years you've transported my true love Seven years he's transported you know From Henry Hills, Lodsworth (Shepperton), Sussex via Martin Carthy Journal Folk Song Society 1 (1901) p. 135 By W. Percy Merrick Also Sharp, English County Folk Songs (1908-1912 / 1961) pp.226-228 ADIEU TO OLD ENGLAND - George Blake, 30 May 06 - H306 Oh once I could ride in a coach, Had horses to drag me about: But now I'm confined in a gaol so strong And I know not which way to get out. Here's adieu to old England, adieu Here's adieu to ten thousand, that's more. If the world had been ended whilst I had been young My sorrows I ne'er should have known. Oh once I could lie on a bed That was made of the finest of down. But now I am glad of a truss of green grass, To keep my head from the cold ground. Once I could eat of the bread That was made from the finest of wheat But now I am glad with a knolly bread crust I'm glad I can get it to eat. Oh once I could drink of that wine That was made from the finest of grapes, But now I am glad with a clear water spring I'm glad I can get it to drink. AUSTRALIA (via Cyril Poacher/Oak) Come all you young fellows where from e'er you may be And listen a while to my story When I were a young man, my age seventeen I ought to been serving Victoria our queen But those hard hearted judges O how cruel they've been To send us poor lads to Australia I fell in with a damsel she was handsome and gay I neglected my work more and more every day And to keep her like a lady I went on the highway And for that I was sent to Australia Where the judges they stand with their whips in their hands They drive us like horses to plough up the land You should see us poor young fellows working in that gaol yard How hard is our life in Australia Australia Australia I would never see no more I'm pulled down by fever cast down to death's door But should I live to see say seven years more I would then bid adieu to Australia I would then bid adieu to Australia JIM JONES (Also already in DT) Come and listen for a moment, lads, And hear me tell my tale. How across the sea from England I was condemned to sail. Now the jury says I'm guilty, Then says the judge, says he, "Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm sending you Across the stormy sea. But take a tip before you ship To join the iron gang. Don't get too gay in Botany Bay, Or else you'll surely hang. Or else you'll surely hang," says he. "And after that, Jim Jones, It's high upon the gallows tree The crows will pick your bones." Our ship was high upon the sea Then pirates came along, But the soldiers on our convict ship Were full five hundred strong. For they opened fire and somehow drove That pirate ship away. But I'd rather have joined that pirate ship Than gone to Botany Bay. Were the seas are crashing down on us, And the winds a-blowin' gale, I'd rather have drowned in misery Than gone to New South Wales. There's no time for mischief there they said Remember what they say And they'll yet regret they sent Jim Jones In chains to Botany bay.
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