Shanghai Kelley

Waves roll on
Days drag by
And the wind, and the sea birds cry

Rain washes down
And the night turns grey
All I can do is pray

Well on me own in San Francisco
In the year of 1849
No money in me pockets
But there's mischief on me mind
It was Jimmy Kelly’s birthday
A businessman of high renown
He said he'd host a party, he invited half the town!
He said we'd all go drinkin’ on a paddle-steamer in the bay
With barrels full of whiskey
Sure we didn't have to pay
But Kelly swiped the liquor
With a jigger full of maudlin
A pint of chloral-hydrate and a shot of opium!

Beat-down! Black-eyed!
Hobbled-up and hog-tied!
Shipped-out! Shanghaied!
Ne'er a "fare thee well"!
Rope-burned! Whip-cracked!
Burnt-back and hard-tack!
Davey Jones will steal your bones and send you down to Hell!
Davey Jones will steal your bones and send you down to Hell!

Well a lot of us, we hit the floor
Ninety men or maybe more
They rolled us up in blankets
And they dragged us to the door
They sold us to the Reefer just before she passed the Golden Gate
Before we all got sober, we were married to our fate
And miles away from all I knew
Stranded with this rotten crew
With naught but work for us to do until we reached Peru
With blistered hands we'd haul the line
Man the sails, swab the deck
And dream of Shanghai Kelly with a rope around his neck!

Beat-down! Black-eyed!
Hobbled-up and hog-tied!
Shipped-out! Shanghaied!
Ne'er a "fare thee well"!
Rope-burned! Whip-cracked!
Burnt-back and hard-tack!
Davey Jones will steal your bones and send you down to Hell!
Davey Jones will steal your bones and send you down to Hell!

Now if you meet that Shanghai Kelly
You'd best take care around the booze
A pint of piquet special, and you're surely bound to lose
A year at sea and all I've got
When they dumped me on the docks
A broken heart, a broken head, the scurvy and the pox
A broken heart, a broken head, the scurvy and the pox

Beat-down! Black-eyed!
Hobbled-up and hog-tied!
Shipped-out! Shanghaied!
Ne’er a "fare thee well"!
Rope-burned! Whip-cracked!
Burnt-back and hard-tack!
Davey Jones will steal your bones and send you down to Hell!
Davey Jones will steal your bones and send you down to Hell!
Hey!