Words & Tune: trad. arranged Stan Kelly
© 1961 Heathside Music
Expansively
Fare you well the Prince's landing stage,
River Mersey fare you well
I'm off to California
A place I know right well.
Chorus
So fare you well my own true love,
When I return united we shall be.
It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me
But my darling when I think of you.
I'm off to California
By the way of the stormy Cape Horn,
And I will send you a letter, love,
When I'm homeward bound.
Farewell to Lower Frederick Street,
Anson Terrace and Park Lane,
Farewell, it will be some long time
Before I see you again.
I've shipped on a Yankee clipper ship,
Davy Corckett is her name;
And Burgess is the captain of her,
And they say she's a floating hell.
It's my second trip with Burgess in the Crockett,
And I think I know him well.
If a man's a sailor, he can get along,
But if not, he's sure in hell.
The tug is waiting at the pierhead
To take us down the stream.
Our sails are loose and our anchor secure,
So I'll bid you goodbye once more.
I'm bound away to leave you,
Goodbye, my love, goodbye
There's just one thing that grieves me,
That's leaving you behind.
Notes
W. M. Doerflinger ("Shantymen and Shantyboys," New York 1951)
collected this song from an ex-seaman, Dick Maitland, who first
heard it in 1885. "I was on deck," says Maitland, "one night,
when I heard a Liverpool man singing it in the foc's'le. Yes
sir, that song hit the spot." The song is included on a
Prestige record of sea songs by A. L. Lloyd and Ewan McColl (both now
"up aloft," God rest their souls).
Back to contents...