Digital Tradition Mirror

This Dreadful Life I'm Livin'

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

This Dreadful Life I'm Livin'
(Kevin Brown)

cho: I have sailed across the ocean,
     I have rolled upon the sea,
     And this dreadful life I'm livin'
     Is just the life for me.

When I was just a young man
I left my family
Went out upon the ragin' main,
To serve Amerikee.

But when the fight was over,
I found I needed more,
I signed on board a packet ship,
Bound for some distant shore.

cho:

I went down to a native bar,
When we pulled into port,
Got drinkin' ale and whiskey,
'Til I was drunk and poor.

When I awoke, beside me,
Lay a girl I didn't know,
Just proves that demon whiskey
Can lay a sailor low.

cho:

It's haulin sail and line, me boys,
And pushin' capstan 'round;
It's workin' pumps and windlass,
And prayin' for that sound.

The sound of the bosun callin',
To send us all below,
To end the pain of every day,
A sailor's come to know.

cho:

As we sailed into Bank Street
Of New London's whalin' port
I heard the music playin'
And the dancin' on the wharf.

The people there was happy
'Cause our ship was comin' in,
And friends and their relations
Would not go to sea again.

cho:

But when the mighty ocean tells you
With a piece of broken deck
That life on land's not half as bad,
As livin' through a wreck

So I'll be goin' home, me boys,
To the friends I used to know,
And hoist a jar to every man
Who has the urge to roam.

last cho:

     I have sailed across the ocean,
     I have rolled upon the sea,
     And this dreadful life I used to live
     Is not the life for me.

JR

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!