Bay of Biscay
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com
My Willy sails on board the tender
And where he is I do not know
For seven long years I’ve been constantly waiting
Since he crossed the Bay of Biscay-oh
One night as Mary lay sleeping
A knock came to her bedroom door
Saying Arise arise, my dearest Mary
For to earn one glimpse of your Willy-oh
Young Mary rose, put on her clothing
And to the bedroom door did go
And there she spied her Willy standing
His two pale cheeks as white as snow
Oh Willy dear where are those blushes
Those blushes I knew long years ago
Oh Mary dear - the cold clay ashed them
I am only the ghost of your Willy -oh
Oh Mary dear, the dawn is breaking
Don’t you think it’s time for me to go
I am leaving you quite broken hearted
For to cross the Bay of Biscay-oh
If I had all the gold and silver
And all the money in Mexico
I would grant it all to the king of Erin
For to bring me back my Willy-oh
The author of this website has put a lot of time and effort into gathering the greatest collection of sea shanties for the world to enjoy - There are songs that have been to sung to a job of work at sea for many, many years and collecting them has been a great endeavour. - Roger Chartier has made the effort out of his own interest and the requests that he has gotten to do this work from fellow musicians who wanted a good source of sea shanties to draw on and learn from. He has been told that for this effort he is a remarkable man.
