American Old Time Song Lyrics: 15 Botany Bay
Theater, Music-Hall, Nostalgic, Irish & Historic Old Songs, Volume 15
BOTANY BAY.
Written and sung by Edward Harrigan.
Oh, I was reared in White Chapel,
A 'prentice I was bound;
No livelier kid was ever known
Her majesty's country round.
I cut the master short one day
And started off alone,
And went to swiping handkerchiefs
Not many miles from home.
Chorus.
They shipped me far away
To a penal colony,
Across the deep blue water
To the isle of Australia,
I took leg bail one day,
I could no longer stay;
I slipped the goal with a pleasant smile,
And sailed from Botany Bay.
I know a little barmaid,
All at the Royal Arms;
She is sweet on this ere covey
And his aggravating charms.
Her parents call her Dolly,
I call her Doll for short;
I gives her silken 'kerchief,
And that's how her I caught.-Chorus.
I did a bit in Newgate,
Likewise at old Bridewell;
Like Claude Duval and his jolly pal,
Carved my name all in the cell.
On the old treadmill it's all up hill,
It goes against the grain
Of Sammy Slap, the cleverest chap
From Costermonger Lane.-Chorus.