Trad.

Come all you wild young men
And a warning take by me,
Never to lead your single life astray
And into no bad company.

As I myself have done
It being in the merry month of may,
When I was pressed by a sea- captain
And on board a man-o-war I was sent.

We sailed on the ocean so wide
And our bonny bonny flag we let fly,
Let every man stand true to his gun
For the Lord knows who must die.

To the East Indies we were bound
To plunder the raging main,
It’s many a brave and gallant ship
We sent to a watery grave.

Ah, for Freeport we did steer
Our provisions to renew,
When we did spy a bold man-of-war
Sailing three feet to our two.

Oh, she fired across our bows
Heave to and don’t refuse,
Surrender now unto my command
Or else your lives you’ll lose.

And our decks they were spattered with blood
And the cannons did loudly roar,
And thousands of times have I wished myself at home
And all alone with me Polly on the shore.

She’s a tall and slender girl
With a dark and rolling eye,
And here am I, a -bleeding on the deck
And for her sweet sake I would die.

So farewell to me parents and me friends
Farewell my dear Polly too,
I ne’er would of crossed this salt sea so wide
Had I ever been ruled by you.