| Now gather round you sailor boys, and listen to my plea
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| And when you’ve heard my tale you’ll pity me
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| For I was a real damned fool in the port of Liverpool
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| The first time that I came home from the sea
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| I was paid off at the Home, from a voyage to Sierra Leone
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| Two pounds ten and sixpence was my pay
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| When I drew the tin I grinned, but I very soon got skinned
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| By a girl by the name of Maggie May
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| Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they’ve taken you away
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| They’ve sent you to Van Diemen’s cruel shore
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| For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
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| And you’ll never shine in Paradise Street no more
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| I shan’t forget the day when I first met Maggie May
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| She was cruising up and down on Canning Place
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| With a figure so divine, like a frigate of the line
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| So, being a sailor, I gave chase
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| Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they’ve taken you away
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| They’ve sent you to Van Diemen’s cruel shore
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| For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
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| And you’ll never shine in Paradise Street no more
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| Next day I woke in bed, with a sore and aching head
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| No shoes, or shirt, or trousers could I find
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| I asked her where they were, and she answered, «My dear sir
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| They’re down in Kelly’s knock-shop, number nine»
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| Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they’ve taken you away
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| They’ve sent you to Van Diemen’s cruel shore
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| For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
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| And you’ll never shine in Paradise Street no more
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| Oh, you thieving Maggie May, you robbed me of my pay
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| When I slept with you last night ashore
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| And the judge he guilty found her of robbing a homeward-bounder
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| And she’ll never roam down Paradise Street no more
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| Oh, Maggie, Maggie May, they’ve taken you away
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| They’ve sent you to Van Diemen’s cruel shore
|
| For you robbed so many a sailor, and skinned so many a whaler
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| And you’ll never shine in Paradise Street no more |