KATE BUSH - The Handsome Cabin Boy lyrics

rate me

It's of a pretty female As you may understand. Her mind being bent for rambling Unto some foreign land, She dressed herself in sailor's clothes, Or so it does appear, And she hired with a captain To serve him for a year. [The captain's wife she being on board, She seemed in great joy To think the captain had engaged Such a handsome cabin boy, That now and then she'd slip him a kiss, And she'd have liked to toy, But 'twas the captain found out the secret Of the handsome cabin boy.] Her cheeks they were like roses And her hair rolled in a curl. The sailors often smiled and said He looked just like a girl. But eating of the captain's biscuit Her colour did destroy, And the waist did swell of pretty Nell, The handsome cabin boy. It was in the bay of Biscay Our gallant ship did plow. One night among the sailors Was a fearful flurry and row.* They tumbled from their hammocks For their sleep it did destroy, And they sworn about the groaning Of the handsome cabin boy. "Oh doctor, dear, oh doctor," The cabin boy did cry. "My time has come, I am undone, And I will surely die." The doctor come a-runnin' And a-smilin' at the fun. To think a sailor lad should have A daughter or a son. The sailors when they saw the joke They all did stand and stare. The child belonged to none of them, They solemnly did swear. The captain's wife, she says to him, "My dear, I wish you joy, For 'tis either you or me's betrayed The handsome cabin boy!" [Now sailors, take your tot of rum And drink success to trade, And likewise to the cabin boy That was neither man nor maid. Here's hoping the wars don't rise again Our sailors to destroy, And here's hoping for a jolly lot more Like the handsome cabin boy.]