The Handsome Cabin Boy

Lyrics

[Verse 1] I'll tell you of a young girl and you will understand Her mind was bent on rolling onto a foreign land She dressed herself in sailor's clothes, or so it did appear And hired with our captain to serve him for a year [Verse 2] The captain's wife she being on board, she seemed in great joy To see her husband had engaged such a handsome cabin boy And now and then, she'd slip a kiss, said she would have liked to toy But the captain found out the secret of the handsome cabin boy [Verse 3] Her cheeks were red and rosy and hеr hair hung in its curl The sailors often laughed and said hе looked just like a girl But being the captain's favorite, the others didn't annoy And the waist did swell on pretty Nell, the pretty cabin boy [Verse 4] T'was in the bay of Biscay our gallant ship did plough One night among the sailors was a fearsome scurrying row They tumbled from their hammocks for their sleep it did destroy And swore about the groaning of the handsome cabin boy [Verse 5] "Oh doctor, dear doctor," the cabin boy did cry "My time has come, I am undone and I will surely die" The doctor come a-runnin' and he's smilin' at the fun To think a sailor lad should bear a daughter or a son [Verse 6] They sailors, when they heard the news, they all did stand and stare The child belonged to none of them they solemnly did swear The captain's wife, she looked at him, and she said, "I wish you joy For it's either you or I's betrayed the handsome cabin boy" [Verse 7] And then each man took his tote of rum and he drunk success to trade And likewise to the cabin boy who was neither man nor maid Here's hopin' the wars don't rise again, us sailors to destroy And here's hoping for a jolly lot more like the handsome cabin boy