Row, Boys, Row Lyrics

Feel that sting across your back and Row, Boys, Row
Don't wait for the whip to crack and Row, Boys, Row
Is it wise to be moaning when the Captain comes?
Tip your hat and get grinning though you're worn to the gums
Is it wise to be needy in the land of the free?
Is it wise to be bleeding in a shark-filled sea?

Seven years of bad luck
Should have read the small print

Save my soul, save my soul
I'm chained below, chained below
Carving sailors' little keepsakes
Out of teeth and nails and driftwood
Got to keep the old ship moving
Ploughing through the Sea of Cortez
Living skeletons for neighbours

Hear the Bo sun beat the drum and Row, Boys, Row
Slavery till Kingdom Come and Row, Boys, Row
Is it wise to be asking for a morsel more
When you see what they done to them what asked before?
Is it wise to be kneeling with your arse poking free?
Is it wise to be bleeding in a shark-filled sea?

Richard Thompson - Front Parlour Ballads

Aug 2005

1. Let it Blow
2. For Who's Sake?
3. Miss Patsy
4. Old Thames Side
5. How Does Your Garden Grow
6. My Soul, My Soul
7. Cressida
8. Row, Boys, Row
9. Mutton Street
10. Precious One
11. A Solitary Life
12. Should I Betray?
13. When We Were Boys At School