For whiskey and bad company Has made a fool of me So, come all young men, my warning tale Won't you shun the piracy?
Oh, me name, 'tis William Hollander As you will understand I was born in the County of Waterford Down by her golden strand When I was young and in me prime Good fortune, upon me, shone And my parents raised me tenderly I was their only son
Oh, me father bound me to a trade In Waterford's fair town He bound me to a cooper there By the name of William Brown I served my master faithfully For three long years or more Til I shipped aboard The Ocean Queen Belonging to Tramore
And when we reached Bermuda's isle I met with a Captain Moore He was the skipper of the Flying Cloud From out of Baltimore He asked me if I'd sail with him On a slaving voyage to go And to the burning shores of Africa Where the sugar cane does grow
For whiskey and bad company Has made a fool of me So, come all young men, my warning tale Won't you shun the piracy?
'Twas after five weeks we arrived Off Africa's burning shore Five hundred of them weeping blacks From their native lands, we tore We loaded them in iron chain And stowed them down below Scarce eighteen inches to the man Was all that they had to show
Well, the fever came and the plague, too And it killed them off like flies We dragged their bodies up on deck And we dumped them in the tide It was better for the rest of them If they had died below Than to wear the chain or feel the lash In America forever more
For whiskey and bad company Has made a fool of me So, come all young men, my warning tale Won't you shun the piracy?
Oh, we sacked and we plundered many a ship Both frigates and liners, too Until the British man-o-war The Dungeness, hove in view She fired a shot across our bow We sailed before the wind The chain-shot brought our mainmast down And we fell far behind
So, it's now to Newgate we are bound And we're the ones in chains For the sinking and for plundering All along the Spanish Main The judge, he found us guilty We were condemned to die So, to all my friends, take heed by me Lead not such a life as I
So, it's fare-thee-well, old Waterford And the girl I do adore I'll never kiss your lips again Or squeeze your breasts no more
For whiskey and bad company Has made a fool of me So, come all young men, my warning tale Won't you shun the piracy? For whiskey and bad company Has made a fool of me So, come all young men, my warning tale Won't you shun the piracy?
[00:00.189]For whiskey and bad company [00:04.658]Has made a fool of me [00:08.681]So, come all young men, my warning tale [00:13.226]Won't you shun the piracy? [00:18.764] [00:18.764]Oh, me name, 'tis William Hollander [00:22.108]As you will understand [00:25.217]I was born in the County of Waterford [00:28.351]Down by her golden strand [00:31.486]When I was young and in me prime [00:34.621]Good fortune, upon me, shone [00:37.703]And my parents raised me tenderly [00:40.786]I was their only son [00:43.633] [00:43.633]Oh, me father bound me to a trade [00:47.029]In Waterford's fair town [00:50.111]He bound me to a cooper there [00:52.750]By the name of William Brown [00:56.355]I served my master faithfully [00:59.437]For three long years or more [01:02.337]Til I shipped aboard The Ocean Queen [01:05.733]Belonging to Tramore [01:08.737] [01:08.737]And when we reached Bermuda's isle [01:11.976]I met with a Captain Moore [01:14.771]He was the skipper of the Flying Cloud [01:18.088]From out of Baltimore [01:21.406]He asked me if I'd sail with him [01:24.044]On a slaving voyage to go [01:27.205]And to the burning shores of Africa [01:30.235]Where the sugar cane does grow [01:33.814] [01:33.814]For whiskey and bad company [01:36.844]Has made a fool of me [01:39.848]So, come all young men, my warning tale [01:42.748]Won't you shun the piracy? [01:52.518] [01:52.518]'Twas after five weeks we arrived [01:55.653]Off Africa's burning shore [01:58.735]Five hundred of them weeping blacks [02:01.426]From their native lands, we tore [02:05.004]We loaded them in iron chain [02:08.113]And stowed them down below [02:10.908]Scarce eighteen inches to the man [02:14.226]Was all that they had to show [02:17.386] [02:17.386]Well, the fever came and the plague, too [02:20.495]And it killed them off like flies [02:23.656]We dragged their bodies up on deck [02:26.320]And we dumped them in the tide [02:29.638]It was better for the rest of them [02:33.034]If they had died below [02:35.881]Than to wear the chain or feel the lash [02:39.016]In America forever more [02:42.020] [02:42.020]For whiskey and bad company [02:45.494]Has made a fool of me [02:48.342]So, come all young men, my warning tale [02:51.346]Won't you shun the piracy? [03:00.724] [03:00.724]Oh, we sacked and we plundered many a ship [03:04.120]Both frigates and liners, too [03:07.228]Until the British man-o-war [03:10.389]The Dungeness, hove in view [03:13.497]She fired a shot across our bow [03:16.658]We sailed before the wind [03:19.741]The chain-shot brought our mainmast down [03:22.902]And we fell far behind [03:25.880] [03:25.880]So, it's now to Newgate we are bound [03:29.066]And we're the ones in chains [03:32.044]For the sinking and for plundering [03:34.970]All along the Spanish Main [03:38.418]The judge, he found us guilty [03:41.553]We were condemned to die [03:44.400]So, to all my friends, take heed by me [03:47.744]Lead not such a life as I [03:50.644] [03:50.644]So, it's fare-thee-well, old Waterford [03:53.909]And the girl I do adore [03:57.253]I'll never kiss your lips again [04:00.257]Or squeeze your breasts no more [04:03.339] [04:03.339]For whiskey and bad company [04:06.526]Has made a fool of me [04:09.347]So, come all young men, my warning tale [04:12.351]Won't you shun the piracy? [04:15.643]For whiskey and bad company [04:18.986]Has made a fool of me [04:21.729]So, come all young men, my warning tale [04:26.170]Won't you shun the piracy?
