View source for A Rover Chanty


''A Rover Chanty'' is a poem written by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] first published in [[The Speaker|The Speaker: The Liberal Review]] on 27 june 1896.


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== Editions ==

* in ''[[The Speaker]]'' (27 june 1896 [UK])
* in ''[[Songs of Action]]'' (1898-1916, [[Smith, Elder & Co.]] [UK])
* in ''[[Songs of Action]]'' (august 1898, [[Charles Scribner's Sons]] [US])
* in ''[[Songs of Action]]'' (1898, [[Doubleday & McClure Co.|Doubleday, Page & Co.]] [US])
* ''A Rover Chanty'' (1901, [[J. Curwen & Sons]] ''Chorus for Equal Voices No. 579'' [UK]) ''music score''
* in ''[[Songs of Action]]'' (1918-1920, [[John Murray]] [UK])
* in ''[[Three Nautical Songs for Baritone]]'', by [[G. W. Chadwick]] (1920, Oliver Ditson Co. [US]) as ''Pirate Song''
* in ''[[The Poems of Arthur Conan Doyle]]'' (1922-1928, [[John Murray]] [UK])


== A Rover Chanty ==
[[File:the-speaker-1896-06-27-p690-a-rover-chanty.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[The Speaker]] (27 june 1896, p. 690)]]

A trader sailed from Stepney town—<br />
Wake her up!  Shake her up! Try her with the mainsail!<br />
A trader sailed from Stepney town<br />
With a keg full of gold and a velvet gown:<br />
Ho, the bully rover Jack,<br />
Waiting with his yard aback<br />
Out upon the Lowland sea!<br /><br />

The trader he had a daughter fair—<br />
Wake her up!  Shake her up! Try her with the foresail<br />
The trader he had a daughter fair,<br />
She had gold in her ears, and gold in her hair:<br />
All for bully rover Jack,<br />
Waiting with his yard aback,<br />
Out upon the Lowland sea!<br /><br />

'Alas the day, oh daughter mine!'—<br />
Shake her up! Wake her up! Try her with the topsail!<br />
'Alas the day, oh daughter mine!<br />
Yon red, red flag is a fearsome sign!'<br />
Ho, the bully rover Jack,<br />
Reaching on the weather tack,<br />
Out upon the Lowland sea!<br /><br />

'A fearsome flag!' the maiden cried—<br />
Wake her up!  Shake her up!  Try her with the jibsail!<br />
'A fearsome flag!' the maiden cried,<br />
But comelier men I never have spied!'<br />
Ho, the bully rover Jack,<br />
Reaching on the weather tack,<br />
Out upon the Lowland sea!<br /><br />

There's a wooden path that the rovers know—<br />
Wake her up!  Shake her up!  Try her with the headsails!<br />
There's a wooden path that the rovers know,<br />
Where none come back, though many must go:<br />
Ho, the bully rover Jack,<br />
Lying with his yard aback,<br />
Out upon the Lowland sea!<br /><br />

Where is the trader of Stepney town?—<br />
Wake her up!  Shake her up!  Every stick a-bending!<br />
Where is the trader of Stepney town?<br />
There's gold on the capstan, and blood on the gown:<br />
Ho for bully rover Jack,<br />
Waiting with his yard aback,<br />
Out upon the Lowland sea!<br /><br />

Where is the maiden who knelt at his side?—<br />
Wake her up!  Shake her up!  Every stitch a-drawing!<br />
Where is the maiden who knelt at his side?<br />
We gowned her in scarlet, and chose her our bride:<br />
Ho, the bully rover Jack,<br />
Reaching on the weather tack,<br />
Right across the Lowland sea!<br /><br />

So it's up and its over to Stornoway Bay,<br />
Pack it on!  Crack it on!  Try her with the stunsails!<br />
It's off on a bowline to Stornoway Bay,<br />
Where the liquor is good and the lasses are gay:<br />
Waiting for their bully Jack,<br />
Watching for him sailing back,<br />
Right across the Lowland sea.



== Adaptations ==

'''Music'''

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px" caption="Pirate Song in [[Three Nautical Songs for Baritone]] ([[Oliver Ditson Co.]], 1920)">
File:oliver-ditson-1920-p3-pirate-song.jpg|p. 3
File:oliver-ditson-1920-p4-pirate-song.jpg|p. 4
File:oliver-ditson-1920-p5-pirate-song.jpg|p. 5
File:oliver-ditson-1920-p6-pirate-song.jpg|p. 6
File:oliver-ditson-1920-p7-pirate-song.jpg|p. 7
</gallery>






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