“When I’m discharged at Liverpool ‘n’ draws my bit o’ pay,
I won’t come to sea no more;
I’ll court a pretty little lass ‘n’ have a weddin’ day,
‘N’ settle somewhere down shore;
I’ll never fare to sea again a-temptin’ Davy Jones,
A-hearkening to the cruel sharks a-hungerin’ for my bones;
I’ll run a blushin’ dairy-farm or go a-crackin’ stones,
Or buy ‘n’ keep a little liquor-store” &mdash
So he said.
They towed her in to Liverpool, we made the hooker fast,
And the copper-bound official paid the crew,
And Billy drew his money, but the money didn’t last,
For he painted the alongshore blue, &mdash
It was rum for Poll, and rum for Nan, and gin for Jolly Jack;
He shipped a week later in the clothes upon his back;
He had to pinch a little straw, he had to beg a sack
To sleep on, when his watch was through, &mdash
So he did.
From Salt-Water Poems & Ballads, by John Masefield, published by The MacMillan Co., NY, © 1921, p. 25; first published in SALT-WATER POEMS, © 1902.
This is the classic sailor story of swearing never to go to sea again, only to go on a binge in sailortown upon being discharged from one’s ship.
“Painted the alongshore blue” means spending his money freely in Sailortown.
The header graphic, “****house District in a French Sea Port,” is drawn by shantyman and sea songs editor Stan Hugill, from SAILORTOWN, edited by Stan Hugill, published by Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, UK, © 1967, p. 151.
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