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American Ballads and Folk Songs
Ten of the crew bore the murder mark, Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! 'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead, Or a gaping hole in a battered head, And the scuppers' glut of a rotting redj And there they lay, ay, damn my eyes, Their lookouts clapped on Paradise, Their souls gone just the contrawise— Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Fifteen men of 'em good and true,
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! Every man Jack could 'a' sailed with Old Pew,
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! There was chest on chest of Spanish gold And a ton of plate in the middle hold, And the cabin's riot of loot untold— And there they lay that had took the plum, With sightless eyes and with lips struck dumb, And we shared all by rule o' thumb— Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
More was seen through the stern light's screen,
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! Chartings undoubt where a woman had been,
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! A flimsy shift on a bunker cot With a dirk slit sheer through the bosom spot And the lace stiff dry in a purplish rot— Or was she wench or shuddering maid, She dared the knife and she took the blade— Faith, there was stuff for a plucky jade! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
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