Digital Tradition Mirror

The Girls Around Cape Horn

The Girls Around Cape Horn

Our ship she lay at anchor,
Our ship of high renown.
Our ship she lay at anchor,
in fair Boston Town.
Awaiting there for orders,
to take us far from home.
Our orders came for Rio,
And thence around Cape Horn.

We hoisted our three topsails,
and our anchors we did weigh.
We bade our friends a kind farewell,
and then we sailed away.
We sailed away for Rio,
and on our course did steer.
'Twas many a stormy day and night
ere Rio did appear.

At last we anchored at Rio,
just for a little while,
To overhaul the rigging
And to fit the ship in style.
The shipping, how they cheered us,
As we sailed along,
And wished us many a pleasant voyage
around and off Cape Horn.

At last we rounded that stormy cape,
Fair nights and pleasant days.
The next place that we anchor
Will be Valparaiso Bay.
For there the girls will welcome you,
I solemnly declare,
For they're not much like the Liverpool girls
with their curls and glossy hair.

They'll invite the Yankee sailors to come on shore and spree.
And when your money it is gone, they'll give it back to thee.
And when your money it is gone, they'll not on you impose,
For they're not much like those Liverpool girls who'll go and pawn your clothes.

Farewell to Valparaiso, just for a little while,
Likewise to all the others of those fair Pacific isles.
And when we get home again, we'll sit and sing this song.
God bless those little Spanish girls we left around Cape Horn.

From the album "Sailing and Whaling Songs" by Paul Clayton
MO
oct97

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!

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