Sea Shanty

Dear dirty London in the pouring rain

I wish to God I was back on the sea again

Though that belongs to the world of never-will-be

There was never a wilder bastard than me on the sea

I could fuck all the whores in damnation, me boys

They wriggled and hollered and made a great noise

Then I'd drink till I stank and then drank many more

And I won't go down to the sea anymore

And if I had ten pounds then I'd raise a loud cheer

And I'd toast all me neighbors both distant and dear

I'd shoot back great belly-crippling buckets of beer

And a pox and a curse on the people round here

Wouldn't give you the price of a half pint of beer

Wouldn't give you the price of a cup of good cheer

A pox and a curse on the people round here

A man's ambition must indeed be small

To write his name upon a shit house wall

But before I die I'll add my regal scrawl

To show the world I've left with sweet fuck-all

And when all of us bold shit-house poets do die

A monument grand they will raise to the sky

A monument made just to mark our great wit

A monument of solid shit now, me boys

I met with Bill James and we fought over crusts

I called him a whore and he booted me crotch

We shared out the Jack and we thought it a treat

The compliments pass when the quality meet

The compliments pass when the quality meet

The compliments pass when the quality meet

The compliments pass when the quality meet