Name: Polly on the Shore
Duration: P00H02M22S
Description: This tragic song of a sailor gone off to war thinking about his love in his final moments has understandably been performed by many brilliant folk musicians. Among them are Fairport Convention, Martin Carthy and Robyn Hitchcock. The version I sing is closest to that sung by Shirley Collins.

Polly on the Shore

from Of Love and War by Roary Skaista

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This tragic song of a sailor gone off to war thinking about his love in his final moments has understandably been performed by many brilliant folk musicians. Among them are Fairport Convention, Martin Carthy and Robyn Hitchcock. The version I sing is closest to that sung by Shirley Collins.

lyrics

LYRICS:

Come all you wild young men
And a warning take by me,
Never to lead your single life astray
And into no bad company.

As I myself have done,
It being in the merry month of May,
When I was pressed by a sea-captain
On board a man-o-war I was sent away.

Oh we sailed on the ocean so wide
And our bonny, bonny flag we let fly.
Let every man stand true to his guns
For the Lord knows who must die.

And our captain was wounded full sore
And so were the rest of his men.
The main mast rigging was scattered on the deck
So that we were obliged to give in.

And the decks were all spattered with blood
And so loudly the cannons did roar;
And thousands of times have I wished myself at home
And all along with my Polly on the shore.

She's a tall and a slender girl,
She's a dark and a-roving eye,
But here am I lie a-bleeding on the deck
And for her sweet sake I shall die.

So farewell to me parents and me friends,
Farethewell, my dear Polly too.
I never should have crossed this salt sea so wide
If I had have been ruled by you.

credits

from Of Love and War, released August 1, 2016
Traditional

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Roary Skaista UK

Roary Skaista is a queer folk musician based in Oxford, performing traditional folk songs as well as their own material on the themes of love, nature and diversity.

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