‘Tis of a pretty female
C
As you may understand
C Am/C
Her mind being bent for rambling
C7 C
Unto some foreign land
C Am/C
She dressed herself in sailor’s clothes
C7 C
Or so it does appear
C
And she hired with a captain
C7 C
To serve him for a year
Her cheeks – they were like roses
And her hair rolled in a curl
The sailors often smiled and said
He looked just like a girl
But eating of the captain’s biscuit
Her colour did destroy
And the waist did swell of pretty Nell
The handsome cabin boy
‘Twas in the bay of Biscay
Our gallant ship did plow
One night among the sailors
Was a fearful flurry and row.
They tumbled from their hammocks
For their sleep it did destroy
And they sworn about the groaning
Of the handsome cabin boy
“Oh doctor, dear, oh doctor,”
The cabin boy did cry
“My time has come, I am undone
And I will surely die.”
The doctor come a-runnin’
And a-smilin’ at the fun
To think a sailor lad should have
A daughter or a son
The sailors when they saw the joke
They all did stand and stare
The child belonged to none of them
They solemnly did swear
The captain’s wife, she says to him
“My dear, I wish you joy
For ’tis either you or me’s betrayed
The handsome cabin boy!”
