A Sailor's Consolation
Words by Charles Dibdin, Music by Bob Zentz
(Recorded by Tom Lewis on Mixed Cargo)
One night came on a hurricane, the seas
were mountains rolling,
When Barney Buntline turned his quid, and says to Billy
Bowline:
A strong Nor'Wester's blowing Bill, hark can't you hear it
roar now?
Oh Lordy, how I pities them, unhappy folks ashore now.
Foolhardy chaps as lives in towns, what dangers they are all
in,
Now lie a'quaking in their beds, for fear their roofs might
fall in,
Poor creatures, how they envies us and wishes, I've a notion,
For our good luck, in such a storm, to be out on the ocean.
And as for them who're out all day on business from their
houses,
And late at night returning home to cheer their babes and
spouses,
While you and I, Bill, on the deck are comfortably lying,
My eyes - what tiles and chimney pots about their heads are
flying.
And very often have we heard how men are killed - and undone,
By overturns of carriages, by thieves and fires in London,
We knows what risks all landsmen run, from noblemen to
tailors,
So Bill, let us thank Providence - that you and I are sailors!
