Digital Tradition Mirror

My Brother Sylveste

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Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

My Brother Sylveste

Have you heard about the big strong man
Who lived in a caravan?
Have you heard about the Johnson Jeffrey fight
Where the black man fought the white?
     He plays all the organs in the belfry,
     And he wants to fight Jack Dempsey.
     So they'll all come out to see (Well who?)
     My Brother Sylveste and me.

cho: He's my brother Sylveste
     And what has he got?
     He's got a row of bloody medals on his chest (Big chest!)
     Killed forty thousand Indians in the West,
     He takes no rest,
     He's got an arm like a leg,
     And a fist that would sink a battle ship. (Big ship!)
     Takes all the Army and the Navy
     To put the wind up Sylveste.

He thought he'd take a trip to Italy
He thought he'd take a trip by the sea,
He dived off the pier at New York
And he swam like a man made of cork.
     He saw the big ship Lusitania in distress
     (So what did he do?)
     He swallowed all the water in the sea (Big swallow!)
     Put the big ship Lusitania on his chest (Big chest!)
     And carried the bloody lot to Italy.

H thought he'd take a trip to Arabie
(So what did he do?)
He swam across the old Red Sea
He went to ev'ry harem they had got
And he made a better bloody sheik than all the lot.
     All the dancing girls were dancing
     And old Sylveste was prancing
     And they all fell--Who for?
     Well, who d'you think?
     THat big black bugger Sylveste.

From Songs from the Front and Rear, Hopkins
RG
apr97

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!