To The Shores Of Botany Bay (Makem/Clancy) video
See also: Botany Bay (Burlesque Comedy)
And also: Botany Bay (Masterless Men)

Farewell to your bricks and mortar, farewell to your dirty lies,
Farewell to your gangers and gang planks,
And to hell with your overtime;
For the good ship Ragamuffin, she's lying at the quay,
For to take oul' Pat with a shovel on his back,
To the shores of Botany Bay.

I'm on my way down to the quay, where the ship at anchor lays,
To command a gang of navvies, that they told me to engage;
I thought I'd drop in for a drink before I went away,
For to take a trip on an emigrant ship to the shores of Botany Bay.

Farewell to your bricks and mortar, farewell to your dirty lies,
Farewell to your gangers and gang planks,
And to hell with your overtime;
For the good ship Ragamuffin, she's lying at the quay,
For to take oul' Pat with a shovel on his back,
To the shores of Botany Bay.

The boss came up this morning, he says "Well, Pat, you know,
If you don't get your navvys out, I'm afraid you'll have to go;"
So I asked him for my wages and demanded all my pay,
For I told him straight, I'm going to emigrate to the shores of Botany Bay.

Farewell to your bricks and mortar, farewell to your dirty lies,
Farewell to your gangers and gang planks,
And to hell with your overtime;
For the good ship Ragamuffin, she's lying at the quay,
For to take oul' Pat with a shovel on his back,
To the shores of Botany Bay.

And when I reach Australia, I'll go and look for gold,
There's plenty there for the digging of, or so I have been told;
Or else I'll go back to my trade, and a hundred bricks I'll lay,
Because I live for an eight-hour shift on the shores of Botany Bay.

Farewell to your bricks and mortar, farewell to your dirty lies,
Farewell to your gangers and gang planks,
And to hell with your overtime;
For the good ship Ragamuffin, she's lying at the quay,
For to take oul' Pat with a shovel on his back,
To the shores of Botany Bay.

####.... Variant of an Irish traditional arranged by Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers and recorded during the Makem And Clancy Concert 1992, ©2002 Makem.com ....####

Index Page GEST Songs Of Newfoundland And Labrador ~ Copyright Info ~ ~ Privacy Policy ~