The Token
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com - accredited to Charles Dibdin lived 1740-1814 - A bit of a love story but the details are - read more
The breeze was fresh, the ship was in stays Each breaker hushed the shore a haze
When Jack no more on duty called His true love's tokens over hauled
The broken gold, the braided hair The tender motto, writ so fair
Upon his tobacco box he views Nancy the poet love the muse
CHORUS after each verse:
If you loves
I as I loves you, No pair so happy as we two.
The storm that like the shapeless wreck
Had strewed with rigging all the deck
That tars for sharks had given a feast
And left the ship a hulk had ceased
When Jack, as with his messmates dear
He shared the grog their hearts to cheer
Took from his tobacco box a quid
And spelled for comfort on the lid
The battle that with horror grim
Had madly ravaged life and limb
Had scupper drenched with human gore
And widowed many a wife was o'er
When Jack to his companions dear
First paid the tribute of a tear
Then O as his tobacco box he held
Restored his comfort as he spelled
The voyage, that had been long and hard
But that had yielded full reward
And bought each sailor to his friend
Happy and rich was at an end
When Jack his toils and perils o'er
Beheld his Nancy on the shore
He then the tobacco box displayed
And cried and seized the yielding maid
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.
