music midi CD - Bound Away
Get Up Jack

Words traditional
Music traditional: "Get Up Jack"

Ships may come and ships may go, as long as the sea does roll,
Each sailor lad, likewise his dad, he loves that flowing bowl.
A lass ashore he does adore, one that is plump and round,
But when his money is gone, it's the same old song :"Get up, Jack!, John sit down!"

    Come along, come along my jolly brave tars,
    There's lots of grog in the jar,
    We'll plough the briny ocean with
    The jolly roving tars.
When Jack's ashore, he beats his way to some boarding- house,
He's welcomed in with rum and gin, likewise with port and souse,
He'll spend and spend and never offend, till he lies on the ground.
But when his money is gone, it's the same old song: "Get up, Jack!, John sit down!"
    Come along, come along ...
Now when Jack is old and weather- beat, too old to knock about,
In some grogshop they'll let him stop, till eight bells he's turned out.
Then he cries and he sighs right up to the skies:"Good Lord, I'm homeward bound"
For when your money is gone, it's the same old song:"Get up, Jack!, John sit down!
    Come along, come along ...

"Get Up Jack" - The lyrics were probably written on land in a port tavern, but one can feel that the author was familiar with the sea. The song is not one of the best known so it is not easy to find it in most traditional collections of sea songs. Alan Lomax, author of “American Ballads & Folk Songs”, “Folk Songs of North America and reviewer of many more books on similar topics, claims that the song was written by John Thomas on the ship “Philadelphia” in 1896. Not long after this it became popular in America.

"Wstawaj Jack" is a Polish version of this song.

music midi CD - Bound Away