Ye Parliament of England
Traditional:
courtesy of www.SailorSongs.com - A sea shanty that has lyrics warning England's Parliament not to war with America as she will get her butt kicked and loose out in the end - a good sea shanty
Ye Parliament of England You Lords and commons too
Consider well what you're about
And what you're going to do
You're now to fight with Yankees
I'm sure you'll rue the day
You roused the Sons of Liberty In North America
You first confined our commerce And said our ships sha'n't trade
You next impressed our seamen And used them as your slaves
You then insulted Rogers While plowing o'er the main
And had we not declared war You'd have done it o'er again
You thought our frigates were but few And Yankees would not fight
Until brave Hull your Guerriere took And banished her from your sight
The Wasp then took your Frolic We'll nothing say to that
The Poitiers being of the line Of course she took her back
Then next upon Lake Erie
Where Perry had some fun
You own he beat your naval force And caused them for to run
This was to you a sore defeat The like ne'er known before
Your British Squadron beat complete Some took some run ashore
There's Rogers in the President Will burn sink and destroy
The Congress on the Brazil coast Your commerce will annoy
The Essex in the South Seas Will put out all your lights
The flag she waves at her mast-head Free Trade and Sailors' Rights
Lament ye sons of Britain Far distant is the day
When you'll regain by British force What you're lost in America
Go tell your King and parliament By all the world 'tis known
That British force by sea and land By Yankees are overthrown
Use every endeavor And strive to make a peace
For Yankee ships are building fast Their Navy to increase
They will enforce their commerce The laws by Heaven were made
That Yankee ships in time of peace To any port may trade
The author of this website has put a lot of time and effort into gathering the greatest collection of sea shanties for the world to enjoy - There are songs that have been to sung to a job of work at sea for many, many years and collecting them has been a great endeavour. - Roger Chartier has made the effort out of his own interest and the requests that he has gotten to do this work from fellow musicians who wanted a good source of sea shanties to draw on and learn from. He has been told that for this effort he is a remarkable man.
