Lost and Given Over

A mermaid’s not a human thing, An’ courtin’ sich is folly; Of flesh an’ blood I’d rather sing, What ain’t so melancholy. Oh, Berta! Loo! Jaunita! Sue! Here’s good luck to me and you – Sing rally! ri-a-rally! The seas is deep; the seas is wide; But this I’ll prove whate’er betide, I’m bully in the alley! I’m bull-ee in our al-lee! The Hooghli gal’er face is brown; The Hilo gal is lazy; The gal that lives by ’Obart town She’d drive a dead man crazy; Come, wet your lip, and let it slip! The Gretna Green’s a tidy ship – Sing rally! The seas is deep; the seas is blue; But ’ere’s good ’ealth to me and you, Ho, rally! The Lord may drop us off our pins To feed ’is bloomin’ fishes; But Lord forgive us for our sins – Our sins is most delicious! Come, drink it up and fill yer cup! The world it owes us bite and sup, And Mimi, Ju-Ju, Sally; The seas is long; the winds is strong; The best of men they will go wrong - Hi, rally! ri-a-rally! The Bowery gal she knows ’er know; The Frisco gal is silly; The Hayti gal ain’t white as snow – They’re whiter down in Chili. Now what’s the use to shun the booze? They’ll flop your bones among the ooze Sou’-west-by-Sou’ the galley. The seas is green; the seas is cold; The best of men they must grow old – Sing rally! ri-a-rally! All round the world where’er I roam, This lesson I am learnin’: If you’ve got sense you’ll stop at home And save the bit yer earnin’. So hang the odds! It’s little odds, When every ’eathen ’as ’is gods, And neither two will tally: When black and white drink, wimmin, fight – In these three things they’re all alright – Sing rally! ri-a-rally! When double bunks, Fo’castle end, Is all the kind that’s carried, Our manners they will likely mend – Most likely we’ll be married. But till sich time as that be done, We’ll take our fun as we’ve begun – Sing rally! The flesh is weak; the world is wide; The dead man ’e goes overside – Sing rally! rally! We’re given and lost to the girls that wait From Trinity to Whitsund’y, From Sunda Strait to the Golden Gate An’ back to the Bay o’ Fundy; Oh, it’s Mabel, Loo, an’ it’s Nancy-Poo, An’ ’ere’s good luck, an’ I love you – Sing rally! Oh, it’s cents an’ dollars an’ somebody hollers – The sun comes up an’ the mornin’ follers – Sing rally! We’re given an’ lost to the octoroon, The Portugee cruiser painty, The Chinkie gal with ’er eyes ’arf-moon, An’ the Japanee darlin’ dainty. Oh, it’s Tokio-town when the sun goes down, It’s ’arf-a-pint and it’s ’arf-a-crown – Sing rally! ’Er spars may lift an’ ’er keel can shift, When a man is done ’e ’s got to drift – Sing rally! Ho, rally! The Hooghli gal ’er face is brown, The Hilo gal’s a daisy, The gal that lives by ’Obart town She’d drive a dead man crazy. So, pretty an’ plain, it’s Sarah Jane ’Uggin’ an’ kissin’ an’ ‘Come again!’ Sing rally! ri-a-rally! The seas is deep; the seas is wide; But this I’ll prove what else betide, I’m bully in the alley, Ho! Bullee in the Al-lee.