Released: February 24, 1986
Songwriter: Traditional
Producer: Kate Bush
[Verse 1]
It's of a pretty female, as you may understand
Her mind being bent for rambling unto some foreign land
She dressed herself in sailor's clothes, or so it does appear
And she hired with a captain to serve him for a year
[Verse 2]
Her cheeks they were like roses and her hair rolled in a curl
The sailors often smiled and said he looked just like a girl
But eating of the captain's biscuit her colour did destroy
And the waist did swell of pretty Nell, the handsome cabin boy
[Verse 3]
It was in the bay of Biscay our gallant ship did plough
One night among the sailors was a fearful flurry and row
They tumbled from their hammocks for their sleep it did destroy
And they sworn about the groaning of the handsome cabin boy
[Verse 4]
"Oh doctor, dear, oh doctor," the cabin boy did cry
"My time has come, I am undone and I will surely die"
The doctor come a-runnin' and a-smilin' at the fun
To think a sailor lad should have a daughter or a son
[Verse 5]
The sailors when they saw the joke they all did stand and stare
The child belonged to none of them they solemnly did swear
The captain's wife, she says to him, "My dear, I wish you joy
For 'tis either you or me's betrayed the handsome cabin boy"
It's of a pretty female, as you may understand
Her mind being bent for rambling unto some foreign land
She dressed herself in sailor's clothes, or so it does appear
And she hired with a captain to serve him for a year
[Verse 2]
Her cheeks they were like roses and her hair rolled in a curl
The sailors often smiled and said he looked just like a girl
But eating of the captain's biscuit her colour did destroy
And the waist did swell of pretty Nell, the handsome cabin boy
[Verse 3]
It was in the bay of Biscay our gallant ship did plough
One night among the sailors was a fearful flurry and row
They tumbled from their hammocks for their sleep it did destroy
And they sworn about the groaning of the handsome cabin boy
[Verse 4]
"Oh doctor, dear, oh doctor," the cabin boy did cry
"My time has come, I am undone and I will surely die"
The doctor come a-runnin' and a-smilin' at the fun
To think a sailor lad should have a daughter or a son
[Verse 5]
The sailors when they saw the joke they all did stand and stare
The child belonged to none of them they solemnly did swear
The captain's wife, she says to him, "My dear, I wish you joy
For 'tis either you or me's betrayed the handsome cabin boy"
more tracks from the album
From the albums
- This Woman’s Work: Anthology 1978-1990 (1990)
- In Others’ Words (2018)
Kate Bush popular songs
- Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)
- Wuthering Heights
- Babooshka
- This Woman’s Work
- Cloudbusting
- Hounds of Love
- Waking the Witch
- Suspended in Gaffa
- And Dream of Sheep
- Army Dreamers
- Hello Earth
- Jig of Life
- The Sensual World
- Watching You Without Me
- Sat in Your Lap
- Get Out of My House
- The Big Sky
- The Dreaming
- The Man with the Child in His Eyes
- The Morning Fog
- Mother Stands for Comfort
- Breathing
- Pull Out the Pin
- Under Ice