The Garret

new shanty!! this one's called Towrope Girls

Oh a ship in the tropics,
rolling along,
With every stitch drawing,
the trade blowing strong,
The white caps around her
all breaking in spray,
For the girls have got hold
of her tow-rope today!

chorus
And it’s haul away, girls,
steady and true,
Polly and Dolly and Sally and Sue,
Mothers and sisters and sweethearts and all,
Haul away, all the way, haul away,
haul away girls!

She’s logging sixteen
as she speeds from the south,
With the wind in her royals,
with a bone in her mouth,
With a wake like a mill-race
she rolls on her way,
For the girls have got hold
of her tow-rope today!

Of cargoes and charters
we’ve had our full share,
Of grain and of lumber enough and to spare.
Of nitrates at Taltal and rice for Bombay,
And the girls have got hold
of our tow-rope today!

Don’t you hear the good trade wind
a singing aloud,A homeward bound shanty
in sheet and in shroud,Oh, hear how she whistles
in the halliard and the stay,“The girls have got hold
of the tow-rope today!”

And it’s oh, for the chops
of the channel at last,
And the cheer that goes up
when the tug hawser’s cast,
The mate’s “that’ll do”
and fourteen months’ pay,
For the girls have got hold
of our tow-rope today!

Version #2
There's a ship in the Tropics a'foaming along,
With every stitch drawing, the wind blowing strong,
The white caps around her, all breaking in spray,
For the girls have got hold of her tow-rope today,

Chorus:
An' it's: Haul away girls, steady and true,
Polly and Dolly and sally and Sue,
Mothers and sisters, sweethearts and all,
Haul away, all the way, haul away, haul.

She's logging sixteen as she speeds from the South,
A wind in her royals, a bone in her mouth,
With a wake like a millrace she speeds on her way,
For the girls have got hold of her tow-rope today.

Of cargoes and charters we've had our full share,
Of grain and of lumber, enough and to spare,
Of nitrates at Taltal and rice for Bombay.
And the girls have got hold of out tow-rope today.

The Old Man he stood on the poop at high-noon,
He paced fore-and-aft and he whistled a tune,
Then he put by his sextant and this he did say:
"The girls have got hold of our tow-rope today."

She has dipped her yards under, hove-to off The Horn,
In the fog and the floes she has drifted forlorn,
Becalmed in The Doldrums a week long she lay,
But the girls have got hold of her tow-rope today.

Hear the good Trade Wind a-singing aloud,
A "homeward bound" shanty in sheet and in shroud,
Hear how he whistles in halliard and stay,
"The girls have got hold of our tow-rope today."

And it's: "Ho!"; for the chops of The Channel, at last,
The cheer that goes up when the tug-hawser's passed,
The Mate's: "That'll do!"; and fourteen month's pay,
For the girls have got hold of the tow-rope today.

enjoy!!!!

-melanie