Words to Botany Bay,please!
Robert J. O'Keefe
Could someone please email me the words to Botany Bay. Any help would be
greatly appreciated
--
Bob O'Keefe
Special Education Teacher
St. Thomas Of Villanova School
Manuels C.B.S. N.F. A1W 1M6
Ph. 834-2696
Fax. 834-1506
Francis X. Nevins
Dear Bob,
A great resource for this song as well as many others can be found at:
http://www.cs.hut.fi/~zaphod/irish/
Just go there, click on the letter 'b' and scroll down to Botany Bay and
click again.
Frank
Robert J. O'Keefe wrote in message <6akshq$lku$1...@coranto.ucs.mun.ca>...
Nigel & Nancy Sellars
Robert J. O'Keefe wrote:
>
> Could someone please email me the words to Botany Bay. Any help would be
> greatly appreciated
>
> --
> Bob O'Keefe
> Special Education Teacher
> St. Thomas Of Villanova School
> Manuels C.B.S. N.F. A1W 1M6
> Ph. 834-2696
> Fax. 834-1506
Bob, there are actually two songs with this title. The first, and
probably better known, is a music hall ditty set to the same tune as the
Irish song "The Cobbler." Rolf Harris does a version. It's probably on
the Digital Tradional website. The other is an English/Australian
traditional song which starts "Come all you men of learning and a
warning take by me...." Let me know which one you need and I'll locate
my copies and post it.
Nigel Sellars
Aetius
On 27 Jan 1998 14:55:54 GMT, rok...@stemnet.nf.ca (Robert J. O'Keefe)
wrote:
>Could someone please email me the words to Botany Bay. Any help would be
>greatly appreciated
>
>--
>Bob O'Keefe
>Special Education Teacher
>St. Thomas Of Villanova School
>Manuels C.B.S. N.F. A1W 1M6
>Ph. 834-2696
>Fax. 834-1506
>
BOB,
Here you are 3 different versions. Hope one of them is the right one.
You can find thousand of folk lyrics at this GREAT site:
http://www.mudcat.org/folksearch.html
Enjoy!
Ezio of Italy
-------------------
VERSION 1
BOTANY BAY
Come all you men of learning,
And a warning take by me,
I would have you quit night walking,
And shun bad company.
I would have you quit night walking,
Or else you'll rue the day,
You'll rue your transportation, lads,
When you're bound for Botany Bay.
I was brought up in London town
And a place I know full well,
Brought up by honest parents
For the truth to you I'll tell.
Brought up by honest parents,
And rear'd most tenderly,
Till I became a roving blade,
Which proved my destiny.
My character soon taken was,
And I was sent to jail,
My friends they tried to clear me,
But nothing could prevail.
At the Old Bailey Sessions,
The Judge to me did say,
"The Jury's found you guilty, lad,
So you must go to Botany Bay."
To see my aged father dear,
As he stood near the bar,
Likewise my tender mother,
Her old grey locks to tear;
In tearing of her old grey locks
These words to me did say,
"O Son! O Son! What have you done
That you're going to Botany Bay?"
It was on the twenty eighth of May,
From England we did steer,
And, all things being safe on board
We sail'd down the river, clear.
And every ship that we pass'd by,
We heard the sailors say,
"There goes a ship of clever hands,
And they're bound for Botany Bay."
There is a girl in Manchester,
A girl I know full well,
And if ever I get my liberty,
Along with her I'll dwell.
O, then I mean to marry her,
And no more to go astray;
I'll shun all evil company,
Bid adieu to Botany Bay.
-----------------------------
VERSION 2
BOTANY BAY
Oh, there's Glasgow and Berwick and Penterville,
There's Portsmouth and old Dartmoor;
But they ain't of interest to none of us
For we're bound for a far foreign shore.
cho: Singing tooroolie ooroolie ooroolay, (spoken: Also..)
Tooroolie ooroolie ay (spoken: Likewise...)
Tooroolie ooroolie ooroolay (spoken: Not forgetting)
Tooroolie ooroolie ay.
It's not leaving old England we care about,
Nor sailing for shores far away,
It's the blooming monotony wears us out
And the prospect of Botany Bay.
Oh, the Captain and all the ship's officers
The Bo's'n and all of the crew,
The first and second class passengers,
Knows what us poor convicts go through.
Oh, come all ye dukes and ye duchesses
And harken and list to my lay,
Be sure that ye owns all ye touchesses
Or they'll land you in Botany Bay.
Oh, had I the wings of a turtle dove,
Away on my pinions I'd fly,
Straight into the arms of my lady love,
And there I would languish and die.
( Navy Verse )
It's not the rolling and pitching we care about,
Nor the foam on the crest of the wave
It's the foam in the neck of the bottle,
That's dragging us down to our graves.
---------------------
VERSION 3
BOTANY BAY (3)
Farewell to old England forever
Farewell to my rum culls as well
Farewell to the well known Old Bailey
Where I used for to cut such a swell
Singing Tooral liooral liaddity
Singing Tooral liooral liay
Singing Tooral liooral liaddity
And we're bound for Botany Bay
There's the captain as is our commander
There's the bosun and all the ship's crew
There's the first and the second class passengers
Knows what we poor convicts go through
Taint leaving old England we cares about
Taint cos we mis-spells what we knows
But because all we light fingered gentry
Hops around with a log on our toes
These seven long years I've been serving now
And seven long more have to stay
All for bashing a bloke down our alley
And taking his ticker away
Oh had I the wings of a turtle dove
I'd soar on my pinions so high
Slap bang to the arms of my Polly love
And in her sweet presence I'd die
Now all my young Dookies and Dutchesses
Take warning from what I've to say
Mind all is your own as you toucheses
Or you'll find us in Botany Bay
First published in Sydney Golden Songster in 1893
This song is a burlesque, written by Stephens and Yardley, from the
comedy
'Little Jack Shepherd' that played in London in 1885, and in Melbourne
in
1886.
'Botany Bay' shares two verses with 'Fairwell to Judges and Juries' a
broadside c.1820
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