by Nat Budin, based on a traditional song
Listen to it: Guilt, Angst & Fairy Tales
Guitar chords
* = transition to verse: 20XXXX followed by 10XXXX
Chorus: | G | D | Em | Bm |
| C | Em | Am | B7 |
| G | D | Em | Bm |
| C | Em | A D | G * |
Verse: | Em | Em | Em | C G D | (x3)
| Em | Em | Em | C D |
Come all you loyal countrymen, you heroes stout and brave,
That do intend to cross the sea, your country for to leave;
Come join with Captain Coulston, that hero brave and fast,
Who fought his way all on the sea and battled to the last
The passengers, we numbered three hundred sixty-two;
And we were all teetotallers, excepting one or two,
From Dublin Bay we made our way, the journey seven weeks
All bound for New York City, our fortunes for to seek
The captain and his Sarah were seen on deck each day
To crown our hearts with merriment while sailing on our way.
The weather was as charming as ever you saw before;
For twenty days of pleasure we never thought of shore.
Come all you loyal countrymen, you heroes stout and brave,
That do intend to cross the sea, your country for to leave;
Come join with Captain Coulston, that hero brave and fast,
Who fought his way all on the sea and battled to the last
It was on the twelfth of April, just at the fall of night
Our captain went around his ship to see if all was right.
He said, ‘Brave boys, do not go down, you need not think of sleep
For in a few short moments we’ll be slumbering in the deep.
‘I’ve spied the pirate Osborne from o’er the western sea,
I fear they’re bearing down to rob us of our property.’
Osborne’s ship she then came up, and ordered us to stand:
‘Your gold and precious cargo this moment I demand.
Your gold and all your property resign to me this day
Or no one will be left alive when you get to New York Bay!’
Then out spoke Captain Coulston, unto his jovial crew
‘We’ll fight until we die; for we’ve got nothing else to do.’
There was a young man on the deck, his true love by his side
With courage bold they fought their way along the bulwark side.
The battle it raged on, me boys, and blood in streams did flow
We fought the pirates bravely but could not them overthrow
“God take them all,” cried Coulston, “we’ve nearly lost the fight -
“But if we must go down, we’ll go down doing what was right!”
Then up from in the forecastle, we saw the captain’s wife
With one shot of her pistol, she took old Osborne’s life
The pirates were defeated, we only lost but two
And I was left alive today to sing this tale to you
We took the pirates to the brig in irons, every one
As we sailed westward to New York into the setting sun
So come all you loyal countrymen, you heroes stout and brave,
That do intend to cross the sea, your country for to leave;
Come join with Sarah Coulston, that hero brave and fast,
Who fought her way all on the sea and battled to the last.