From the recording Blue Water
This was always my favorite shanty. I first learned it from a book I sent away for in high school: “Songs and Sketches of the First Clearwater Crew”, the ad for which I discovered in a tiny little note on the sleeve of Don McLean’s debut (vinyl) album “Tapestry”, back before he became a big kahuna. It is a net-hauling shanty from the Chesapeake Bay region.
Lyrics
Ch: Bye bye, bye bye, Bye bye, bye bye
Bye bye bye Roseanna
Bye bye, bye bye, Bye bye, bye bye
And I won’t be home tomorrow
A ship came sailing ‘round the bend
Bye bye bye Roseanna
All loaded down with fishermen
And I won’t be home tomorrow
Ch:
I thought I heard the captain say,
Bye bye bye Roseanna
Tomorrow is our sailin’ day
And I won’t be home tomorrow
Ch:
A dollar a day is a sailor’s pay
Bye bye bye Roseanna
Well it’s easy come, easy go away
And I won’t be home tomorrow
Ch X 2: