"Old Polina"

There's a noble fleet of whalers, they're sailing from Dundee
Manned by British sailors that take them o'er the sea.
On a western ocean passage, we started on the trip
We flew along just like a song on a gallant whaling ship.
Was the second Sunday morning, just after leaving port,
We met a heavy sou'west gale and washed away our boat
It washed away our quarterdeck, our stanchions just as well,
And so we set the whole shabang a floatin' in the gale.

For the wind was on our quarter, the engines working free
There's not another whaler that sails the Arctic Sea
Can beat the old Polina, you need not try my sons,
We challenged all both great and small from Dundee to St John's.

Art Jackman set his canvas, Fair Weather galloped steam
And Captain Guy the daring boy came plunging through the stream
And Mullins in the Husky tried to beat the bloody lot
But to beat the Old Polina boys was something he could not.

For the wind was on our quarter, the engines working free
There's not another whaler that sails the Arctic Sea
Can beat the old Polina, you need not try my sons,
We challenged all both great and small from Dundee to St John's.

There's the noble Terra Nova, a model without doubt,
The Arctic and Aurora, they talk so much about.
Art Jackman's model mail boat, the terror of the sea,
Tried to beat the old Polina on a passage from Dundee.

For the wind was on our quarter, the engines working free
There's not another whaler that sails the Arctic Sea
Can beat the old Polina, you need not try my sons,
We challenged all both great and small from Dundee to St John's.

Now we're back in old St. John's where rum is very cheap
We'll drink a health of Captain Guy who brought us o'er the deep,
A health to all our sweethearts, and to our wives so fair,
Not another ship could make the trip, the Polina I declare !

For the wind was on our quarter, the engines working free
There's not another whaler that sails the Arctic Sea
Can beat the old Polina, you need not try my sons,
We challenged all both great and small from Dundee to St John's.

For the wind was on our quarter, the engines working free
There's not another whaler that sails the Arctic Sea
Can beat the old Polina, you need not try my sons,
We challenged all both great and small from Dundee to St John's.

"The River Driver"

I was just the age of sixteen when I first went on the drive,
After six months hard labor, at home I did arrive.
I courted with a pretty girl, t'was her caused me to roam,
Now I'm just a river driver and I'm far away from home.

I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by,
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

I'll build a lonesome castle upon some mountain high,
Where she can sit and view me as I go passing by
Where she can sit and view me as I go marching on,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by,
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

When I am old and feeble and in my sickness lie,
Just wrap me up in a blanket and lay me down to die
Just get a little bluebird to sing for me alone,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by,
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry,
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by,
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

"The Mermaid"

When I was a lad in a fishing town
Me old man said to me:
"You can spend your life, your jolly life
Just sailing on the sea.
You can search the world for pretty girls
Til your eyes are weak and dim,
But don't go searching for a mermaid, son
If you don't know how to swim"
'Cause her hair was green as seaweed
Her skin was blue and pale
Her face it was a work of art,
I loved that girl with all my heart
But I only liked the upper part
I did not like the tail

I signed onto a sailing ship
My very first day at sea
I seen the Mermaid in the waves,
Reaching out to me
"Come live with me in the sea said she,
Down on the ocean floor
And I'll show you a million wonderous things
You've never seen before
So over I jumped and she pulled me down,
Down to her seaweed bed
On a pillow made of a tortoise-shell
She placed beneath my head
She fed me shrimp and caviar
Upon a silver dish
From her head to her waist it was just my taste
But the rest of her was a fish
'Cause ...

But then one day, she swam away
So I sang to the clams and the whales
"Oh, how I miss her seaweed hair
And the silver shine of her scales
But then her sister, she swam by
And set my heart awhirl
Cause her upper part was an ugly fish
But her bottom part was a girl
Yes her hair was green as seaweed
Her skin was blue and pale
Her legs they are a work of art,
I loved that girl with all my heart
And I don't give a damn about the upper part
Cause that's how I get my tail.

"Captain Kidd"

My name is Captain Kidd
As I sailed, as I sailed,
Oh my name is Captain Kidd as I sailed,
My name is Captain Kidd
And God's laws I did forbid,
And most wickedly I did as I sailed.

My father taught me well
To shun the gates of hell,
But against him I rebelled as I sailed,
He shoved a bible in my hand
But I left it in the sand
And I pulled away from land,
As I sailed

[Chorus]

I murdered William Moore
And I left him in his gore
Twenty leagues away from shore
As I sailed,
And being crueler still, the gunner I did kill
All his precious blood did spill,
As I sailed,

[Chorus]

I was sick and nigh to death,
And I vowed at every breath,
Oh to walk in wisdom's path,
As I sailed
But my repentance lasted not,
My vows I soon forgot,
Oh damnation is my lot,
As I sailed.

[Chorus]

To the execution dock
Lay my head upon the block,
Laws no more I'll mock as I sail,
So take warning here and heed
To shun bad company
Or you'll wind up just like me
As I sailed.

"Graceful & Charming (Sweet Forget-Me-Not)"

Fancy brings a thought to me of a flower so bright and fair,
Grance and beauty, both combine to make that far more rare
Like a maiden that I know who shared my happy life,
Where we parted, when she whispered, "You'll forget-me-not".

She's graceful and she's charming like the lillies in the pond
Time is flowing swiftly by, of her I am so fond,
The roses and the daisies they bloom around the spot
Where we parted, when she whispered, "You'll forget-me-not".

We met I really don't know where, I guess it's all the same
Love grows in a village green as well as in a lane
I gently took her by the hand and a glance at me she shot,
She dropped a flower, I picked it up, it was a sweet forget-me-not.

She's graceful and she's charming like the lillies in the pond
Time is flowing swiftly by, of her I am so fond,
The roses and the daisies they bloom around the spot
Where we parted, when she whispered, "You'll forget-me-not".

And then there came a happy time when something that I said
Caused her lips to murmur "yes", shortly we were wed.
Now there's a cottage by a lane and a tiny garden spot
There grows a flower, I know it well, it's the sweet forget-me-not.

She's graceful and she's charming like the lillies in the pond
Time is flowing swiftly by, of her I am so fond,
The roses and the daisies they bloom around the spot
Where we parted, when she whispered, "You'll forget-me-not,
You'll forget me not".

"Concerning Charlie Horse"

Come all ye friends I'll sit you down
And sing an oleful ditty,
T'was on a day in April month
We started from the city
We planned a day or two at Maars
We stalwart men were chosen
To remove ol' Charlie from Angle Pond,
Who fell in when the pond was frozen.

We seven men came roaring down
On the road to Roaches Line,
We might have stopped in Avondale or Brigus might have been fine,
We was hungry as sin but we never stopped in
Nor took any time to park us,
We all of us knew that we must get through to remove old Charlie's carcass.

Here's to Charlie Horse, here's to Shade the Master
No better horse ne'er ran the course nor pulled the logs more faster,
Here's to Charlie Horse and I wants ye all to know,
Charlie's gone to the big corral where all good horses go.

In the car was Ol' Pocket Comb and beside him Old Moose Coosten,
And Barracuda Bill and Jimmy Clark in the back seat he was roostin'
There was Smiley Stubborn and the Mounted Police
It wasn't hard to find him,
And Johnny Pollack and Sagebrush Sam was sitting right in beside him.
Kevin and Buck was also there, but they brought some brawn and brains,
They was aiming to help as best they could to remove old Chuck's remains,
Charlie was like a brother to Shade and he loved him well of course,
Charlie was a very good man you see although he'd been a horse.

Here's to Charlie Horse, here's to Shade the Master
No better horse ne'er ran the course nor pulled the logs more faster,
Here's to Charlie Horse and I want ye all to know,
Charlie's gone to the big corral where all good horses go.

Now I'll spare you all the gruesome details
And just relate the end.
With two stout doors and a few strong ropes
We removed old Shady's friend,
We gave him a decent send off with all our hats removed,
So long as we helped old Shade and his friend, our loyalty was proved.
Somewhere up in the great beyond his eyes are shining bright,
Charlie nods an approving nod cause he knows we did him right.
Shade will join him there one day and he'll bring the harness leather,
And so and for all of eternity they'll pull the logs together.

Here's to Charlie Horse, here's to Shade the Master
No better horse ne'er ran the course nor pulled the logs more faster,
Here's to Charlie Horse and I want ye all to know,
Charlie's gone to the big corral where all good horses go.

"Harbour LeCou"

As I rode ashore from my schooner close by
A girl on the beach sir I chanced to espy,
Her hair it was red and her bonnet was blue
Her place of abode was in Harbour Lecou.
Oh boldly I asked her to walk on the sand
She smiled like an angel and held out her hand
So I buttoned me guernsey and hoved way me chew
In the dark rolling waters of Harbour Lecou

My ship she lay anchored far out on the tide
As I stroll along with that maid at my side
I told her I loved her, I said I'll be true,
And I winked at the moon over Harbour Lecou
As we walked on the sands at the close of the day
I thought of my wife who was home in Torbay
I knew that she'd kill me if she only knew
I was courting this lassie in Harbour Lecou.

As we passed a log cabin that stood on the shore
I met an old comrade I'd sailed with before,
He treated me kindly saying "Jack, how are you?
Its seldom I see you in Harbour Lecou".
And as I was parting, this maiden in tow,
He broke up my party with one single blow
He said "Regards to your missus, and your wee kiddies too,
I remember her well, she's from Harbour Lecou".

I looked at this damsel a standing 'long side
Her jaw it just dropped and her mouth opened wide
And then like a she-cat upon me she flew
And I fled from the furys of Harbour Lecou.

So come all you young sailors who walk on the shore
Beware of old comrades you sailed with before
Beware of the maidens with the bonnets of blue
And the pretty young damsels of Harbour Lecou,
And the pretty young damsels of Harbour Lecou.

"Tishialuk Girls Set"

Tishialuk girls are neat and tidy, Tishialuk girls it won't last long,
Tishialuk girls they will be useful when Sam Cove is dead and gone.

Aunt Rae wants me to wed her daughter, takes me from my heart's delight,
Give me a girl from down in Tishialuk , shines in the eyes like diamonds bright.

Tishialuk girls are neat and tidy, Tishialuk girls it won't last long,
Tishialuk girls they will be useful when Sam Cove is dead and gone.

"French Shore"

When I was a young man just barely fourteen, craving adventure and lore,
I boarded a clipper, me Dad was the skipper, and sailed it along the French Shore yeah,
We sailed all along the French Shore.

What beautiful vessels were sailing back then, all bound for the North Labrador,
And so for that reason they came here that season to sail all along the French Shore, yeah,
To sail all along the French Shore.

On each ship a maiden was hired to cook, a beautiful girl to adore,
So young and cavorting, all ready for courting, while sailing along the French Shore, yeah,
While sailing along the French Shore.

Being too young for courting I soon did decide, to spy on the lovers on shore,
I spied on a couple so loving and supple, while sailing along the French Shore, yeah,
While sailing along the French Shore.

They're actions peculiar appeared to me then, but now they're not funny no more,
They were hugging and kissing, oh what I've been missing,
While sailing along the French Shore, yeah,
While sailing along, sailing along, sailing along the French Shore.

That couple has children now married I know,
You see they're not young anymore,
Still yet they don't know how I witnessed the show that they played
All along the French Shore, yeah,
They played along the French Shore.

That ends the story of my bonnie days, would that I could live them once more,
And this much I know, I'd produce my own show,
And I'd stage it along the French Shore, yeah,
While sailing along, sailing along,
While sailing along, sailing along, while sailing along the French Shore.

"Cod Liver Oil"

I'm a young married man and I'm tired of life
Ten years I've been wed to a pale sickly wife,
She's nothing to do only sit there and cry
Praying and praying to God she would die.
A friend of my own came to see me one day
He told me my wife she was pining away
He afterwards told me that she would get strong
If I get a bottle from dear Dr John.

Oh doctor, oh doctor, oh dear Dr John
Your cod liver oil is so pure and so strong
I'm afraid of my life, I'll go down in the soil
If me wife don't stop drinking your cod liver oil.

I bought her a bottle, well just for to try
And the way that she drank it you'd think she might die
I bought her another, it vanished the same
And then she got cod liver oil on the brain.
I bought her another, she drank it no doubt,
And then she began to get terrible stout,
And when she got stout well of course she got strong
And I became jealous of dear Dr John.

Oh doctor, oh doctor, oh dear Dr John
Your cod liver oil is so pure and so strong
I'm afraid of my life, I'll go down in the soil
If me wife don't stop drinking your cod liver oil.

Me house it resembles a great doctor's shop
Its covered in bottles from bottom to top
Well early the morning the kettle does boil
You would swear it was singing of cod liver oil.

Oh doctor, oh doctor, oh dear Dr John
Your cod liver oil is so pure and so strong
I'm afraid of my life, I'll go down in the soil
If me wife don't stop drinking
Oh doctor, oh doctor, oh dear Dr John
Your cod liver oil is so pure and so strong
I'm afraid of my life, I'll go down in the soil
If me wife don't stop drinking your cod liver oil.