Released: November 3, 1992
Songwriter: Traditional
Producer: Debbie Gold
[Verse 1]
Come and listen for a moment, lads
And hear me tell my tale
How across the sea from England
I was condemned to sail
Now the jury found me guilty
Then says the judge, says he
"Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm sending you
Across the stormy sea
But take a tip before you ship
To join the iron gang
Don't get too gay in Botany Bay
Or else you'll surely hang
Or else you'll surely hang," says he
"And after that, Jim Jones
It's high above on the gallows tree
The crows will pick your bones."
[Verse 2]
And our ship was high upon the sea
Then pirates came along
But the soldiers on our convict ship
Were full five hundred strong
For they opened fire and somehow drove
That pirate ship away
But I'd rather have joined that pirate ship
Than gone to Botany Bay
With the storms ragin' round us
And the winds a-blowin' gale
I'd rather have drowned in misery
Than gone to New South Wales
[Verse 3]
Now it's day and night and the irons clang
And like poor galley slaves
We toil and toil, and when we die
Must fill dishonored graves
And it's by and by I'll slip my chains
Well, into the bush I'll go
And I'll join the bush rangers there
Jack Donohue and co
And some dark night, when everything
Is silent in the town
I'll shoot those tyrants one and all
I'll gun the flogger down
Oh, I'll give the law
A little shock
Remember what I say
And they'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones
In chains to Botany Bay
Come and listen for a moment, lads
And hear me tell my tale
How across the sea from England
I was condemned to sail
Now the jury found me guilty
Then says the judge, says he
"Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm sending you
Across the stormy sea
But take a tip before you ship
To join the iron gang
Don't get too gay in Botany Bay
Or else you'll surely hang
Or else you'll surely hang," says he
"And after that, Jim Jones
It's high above on the gallows tree
The crows will pick your bones."
[Verse 2]
And our ship was high upon the sea
Then pirates came along
But the soldiers on our convict ship
Were full five hundred strong
For they opened fire and somehow drove
That pirate ship away
But I'd rather have joined that pirate ship
Than gone to Botany Bay
With the storms ragin' round us
And the winds a-blowin' gale
I'd rather have drowned in misery
Than gone to New South Wales
[Verse 3]
Now it's day and night and the irons clang
And like poor galley slaves
We toil and toil, and when we die
Must fill dishonored graves
And it's by and by I'll slip my chains
Well, into the bush I'll go
And I'll join the bush rangers there
Jack Donohue and co
And some dark night, when everything
Is silent in the town
I'll shoot those tyrants one and all
I'll gun the flogger down
Oh, I'll give the law
A little shock
Remember what I say
And they'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones
In chains to Botany Bay
more tracks from the album
From the album
- Good as I Been to You (1992)
Bob Dylan popular songs
- Murder Most Foul
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- The Times They Are A-Changin’
- All Along the Watchtower
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Make You Feel My Love
- Hurricane
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- Desolation Row
- Tangled Up in Blue
- Masters of War
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
- It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
- Girl from the North Country
- Tempest
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Ballad of a Thin Man
- Visions of Johanna
- I Contain Multitudes
- To Fall in Love with You
- Shelter from the Storm