John Dory
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com - Written in 1609
As it fell on a holy day,
And upon a holy tide, a,
John Dory bought him an ambling nag
To Paris for to ride, a.
And when John Dory to Paris was come
A little before the gate, a,
John Dory was fitted, the porter was witted
To let him in thereat, a.
The first man that John Dory did meet
Was good King John of France, a.
John Dory could well of his courtesy,
But fell down in a trance, a.
A pardon, a pardon, my liege and my king,
For my merry men and for me, a,
And all the churls in merry England
I'll bring them all bound to thee, a.
And Nicholl was then a Cornish man,
A little beside Bohyde, a,
And he manned forth a good black bark
With fifty good oars on a side, a.
Run up, my boy, unto the maintop,
And look what thou canst spy, a.
Who ho, who ho, a goodly ship I do see;
I'd row it to be John Dory, a.
They hoist their sails both top and top,
The mizzen and all was tried, a;
And every man stood to his lot,
Whatever should betide, a.
The roaring cannons then were plied,
And dub a dub went the drum, a;
The braying trumpets loud they cried
To courage both all and some, a.
The grappling hooks were brought at length,
The brown bill and the sword, a;
John Dory at length, for all his strength,
Was clapped fast under board, a
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.
