Adieu Lovely Nancy

"Adieu, lovely Nancy, for now I must leave you

To the far-off West Indies I'm bound for to steer

But let my long journey be of no trouble to you

For my love, I'll return in the course of a year"

"Talk not of leaving me here, lovely Jimmy

Talk not of leaving me here on the shore

You know very well your long absence will grieve me

As you sail the wild ocean where the wild billows roar

I'll cut off my ringlets all curly and yellow

I'll dress in the coats of a young cabin boy

And when we are out on that dark, rolling ocean

I will always be near you, my pride and my joy"

"Your lily-white hands, they could not handle the cables

Your lily-white feet to the top mast could not go

And the cold winter storms, well, you could not endure them

Stay at home, lovely Nancy, where the the wild winds won't blow"

As Jimmy set a-sailing, lovely Nancy stood a-wailing

The tears from her eyes in great torrents did a-flow

As she stood on the beach, oh her hands she was wringing

Crying, "Oh and alas, will I e'er see you more?"

As Jimmy was a-walking on the quays of Philadelphia

The thoughts of his true love, they filled him with pride

He said, "Nancy, lovely Nancy, if I had you here, love

How happy I'd be for to make you my bride"

So Jimmy wrote a letter to his own lovely Nancy

Saying, "If you have proved constant, well, I will prove true"

Oh but Nancy was dying, for her poor heart was broken

Oh the day that he left her, forever he'd rue

Come all of you young maidens, I pray, take a warning

And don't trust a sailor boy or any of his kind

For first they will court you and then they'll deceive you

For their love, it is tempestuous as the wavering wind

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