The Unfortunate Miss Bailey
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com
A captain bold from Halifax
Once left his captain quarters
Seduced a maid who hanged herself
One morning in her garters
His wicked conscience smitted him
He lost his stomach daily
He took to drinking turpentine
And thought upon Miss Bailey
Oh! Miss Bailey, unfortunate Miss Bailey
Oh! Miss Bailey, unfortunate Miss Bailey
One night while sleeping on his ship
The captain heard a banging
He left his bed and went on deck
And saw Miss Bailey hanging
His timepiece stopped at Midnight
And his candle burned quite palely
And from the mast a ghost stepped down
Behold it was Miss Bailey
Oh! Miss Bailey, unfortunate Miss Bailey
Oh! Miss Bailey, unfortunate Miss Bailey
Away, Miss Bailey, he implored
You don't affright me, really
Dear Captain Smith, the ghost replied
You've used me ungenteely
The coroner was hard on me
Because I acted frailly
The Parson would not bury me,
Though I'm a dead Miss Bailey
Oh! Miss Bailey, unfortunate Miss Bailey
Oh! Miss Bailey, unfortunate Miss Bailey
You won't believe me when I say
The captain got soft-hearted
He gave the ghost a five-pound note
With which she then departed
'Twill bribe the sexton for my grave
And so I leave thee gaily
Oh bless you, wicked Captain Smith
For rescuing Miss Bailey
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.
