| Lyrics: | Captain Ward and the Rainbow
Our King built a ship, 'twas a ship of great fame
The
Rainbow she was called, and the Rainbow was her name:
He rigged her and fitted her and sent her
off to sea,
With five hundred bold mariners to bear her company.
She cruised the
blue waves over and sailed on many a lee;
At length a wicked pirate we chanced for to
see;
He bore right down upon her, and hailed in the King's name,
We knew it was a pirate
ship, a pirate of great fame.
"We've got you now, you cowardly dog, you ugly, lying
thief;
What makes you rob and plunder, and keep your King in grief? "
You lie, you lie,"
cries Captain Ward, such things can never be,
I've never robbed an English ship, an English
ship but three."
Our guns we trained upon her, as everyone might see;
"We'll take
you back to England, and hanged you shall be."
"Fire on ! Fire on !" cries Captain Ward, "I
value you not a pin,
If you are brass on the outside, I am good steel within!"
They
fought from six that morning till six o'clock at night,
And then the gallant Rainbow began to
take her flight;
"Go home! Go home!" cries Captain Ward, "and tell your King of me,
If he
reigns king upon the land, I'll reign king on the sea."
From Bronson, Singing Tradition
of Child's Popular Ballads
Collected from Mrs. H. R. Murphy, Maine, 1928
Note: I find the
last line of the third verse irresistible- RG)
Child #287
@sailor @pirate
@battle
filename[ WRDRNBOW
play.exe WRDRNBOW
RG
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