YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM

written by:  Robert Lewis Stevenson 1881
and more lyrics added by  Young Ewing Allison 1891

Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil be done for the rest 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

The mate was fixed by the bos’n’s pike
The bos’n’ brained with a markin spike and 
Cookey’s throat was marked belike It
Had been gripped by fingers ten and 
There they lay all good dead men like
Break o’ day in a boozing ken__ 
Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum

Fifteen men of a whole ship’s list 
Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum
Dead and be damned and the rest gone whist! 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

The skipper lay with his nob in gore where the 
Scullion’s axe his cheek had shore
And the scullion he was stabbed times four and 
There he lay and the soggy skies
Dripped all day in up-staring eyes at
Murk sunset and at foul sur-prise   
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Fifteen men of ‘em stiff and stark 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Ten of the crew had the murder mark 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

‘Twas a cutlass swipe or and ounce of lead or a 
Yawning hole in a battered head
and the scuppers glut with a yawning red and 
There they lay aye damn my eyes
All lookouts clapped on par - a - dise all
Souls bound just con - tra - ri - wise   
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Fifteen men of ‘em good and true 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Every man Jack could ha’ sailed with old Pew 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

There was chest on chest of Spanish gold with a 
Ton of plate in the middle hold
And the cabins riot with stuff un told As 
They lay there that had took the plum
With a sightless glare and their lips struck dumb
While we shared all by the rule of thumb  
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Fifteen men of a dead man’s chest 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

We wrapped ‘em all in a mains’l tight with 
Twice ten turns of a hausers bight
And we heaved ‘em over and out of sight with a 
Yo heave ho and fare you well
And a sullen plunge in a sullen swell
Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell  
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

  Sources


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