click to play

Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish ladies,
Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain;
For we have recieved orders to sail to old England,
But we hope in a short time to see you again

Chorus:
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar across the salt seas;
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of old England
From Ushant to Scilly 'tis thirty-five leagues.

Then we hove our ship to, with the wind at sou'-west. my boys,
Then we hove our ship to, for to strike soundings clear;
Then we filled up the main topsail and bore right away, my boys,
And straight up the Channel of old England did steer.

So the first land we made it is called the Deadman,
Next Ram Head off Plymouth, Start, Portland and the Wight;
We sail-ed by Beachy, by Fairly and Dungeness,
And then bore away for the South Foreland light.

Now the signal it was made for the grand fleet to anchor,
All on the Downs that night for to meet;
Then stand by your stoppers, see clear your shank-painters,
Haul all your clew gernets, stick out tacks and sheets.

Now let every man take off his full bumper,
Let every man take off his full bowl;
For we will be jolly and drown melancholy,
With a health to each jovial and true-hearted soul.

abc | midi | pdf
Source: Palmer, Roy (ed),(1986),Oxford Book of Sea Songs,Oxford, OUP

Notes:
The references in the book are quoted here: they are brief to the point of opacity, in my view!

Spanish Ladies. Text: Marryat, Poor Jack, ch XVII. Tune: Chappell, p 737. Capstan shanty: Hugill, p 385. Whalermen: as 'Talcahuano Girls' on the record Leviathan (Topic 12T174, 1967). Nellie's logbook: as in no 55. Pesquod: Moby Dick, 1851, ch 40. White Jacket: ch 74. Stone, p 209. Clements p 79.

Hopefully, someone more familiar with the material can expand on what this means! There is an explanation of the Moby Dick reference, for example, in the discussion thread.
At present, chapter XVII of Captain Marryat's Poor Jack can be seen at Poor Jack. The text of Spanish Ladies used by Palmer is quoted. The tune is from William Chappell's Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time (1855-9), where it was printed with a very similar text.

See also Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England (Henry Dixon, revised by Robert Bell)

Roud: 687 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
Laws:
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