050 - A Long Time Ago (A) This song was very popular in English and American Ships. It was probably, in the nineties of XIX century of the most-used halyard shanty of them all. Even the German and Scandinavians popularized versions in their own tongues. This song was sung as halyard shanty. I try to recreate this song from hearted Stan Hugill's version from the album "Shanties From The Seven Seas" (1962). "Shanties from the Seven Seas" by Stan Hugill (1st ed: p 97). A Long Time Ago (A) O-ho, there ships they lay in Frisco Bay, - Timme WAY, hay, HO,high ho! There ships they lay in Frisco Bay, - Oh a LONG time aGO! *2* These smart Yankee packets lay out in the Bay, All a-waiting a fair wind to get under way, *3* With all their poor sailors so weak an' so sad, They'd drunk all their limejuice, no more could be had. *4* With all their poor sailors so sick an' so sore, They'd scoffed all their whack an' they couldn't get more. *5* Oh, I sailed out of 'Frisco in a full rigged ship, I sailed out o' 'Frisco in a full-rigged ship. *6* Her masts wuz of silver an' her yards wuz of gold, Her masts wuz of silver an' her yards wuz of gold. *7* We wuz bound for New York with a cargo o' gold, Bound south 'round the Hotn through the ice an' the cold. *8* In eighteen hundred and ninety-four, We shipped in a drogher bound for Singapore. *9* An' I fell in love with young Malay maid, She swiped all me money, before I wuz paid *10* My ol' mum she wrote to me, She wrote to me to come home from sea. *11* Says she 'Me son, ye'll rue the day, When the girls have blown, lad, all yer pay. *12* She sent me some money, she sent me some clothes, But I spent all the money an' pawned the clothes. *13* An' ever since then I have thought of her word, 'Twas the finest advice that a man ever heard. *14* An' as soon as I gits me feet on shore, I,ll ship as a bosun of a little rum store. *15* An' if ever I gits me feet on land, I'll ship as some young lady's fancyman. *16* Oh, a long time, an' a very long time, Tis a very long time since I first made this rhyme.
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