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 There
were three sailors from Bristol City
There
were three sailors from Bristol City
Who
stole a ship and went to sea.
Who
stole a ship and went to sea.
There
was Gorging Jack and Guzzling Jimmy
There was Gorging Jack and Guzzling Jimmy
And there was the little boy Billee
And
there was the little boy Billee
They
stole a tin a captain's biscuits
And three big bottles of best whisky.
But
when they reached the broad Atlantic
They'd nothing left but one split pea.
Says
Gorging Jack to Guzzling Jimmy
"There's nothing left so I'm going to eat thee"
Said
Guzzling Jimmy "I'm old and toughish
So
let's kill and eat the little boy Billee"
"Oh
little boy Billee, we're gonna kill and eat ya
So
undo the top button of your little chemise".
"Oh
may I say my catechism
That
my dear mother taught to me?"
He
climbed up to the top fore-gallant
And there he fell down on his knees.
But
when he reached the eleventh commandment
"Yo
ho" he cries "for land I see."
"I
see Jerusalem and Madagascar
And
north and south Amerikee"
"I
see the British fleet at anchor
And Admiral Nelson K.C.B."
They
hung Gorging Jack and Guzzling Jimmy
But they made an admiral out of Little Boy Billee.
"La
Courte Paille" is widely sung in France and has been immortalized
in Britain in Thackeray's adaptation, "There were three sailors from
Bristol city".
[Key
D]
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Updated