Are you coming, Johnnie Bowline,
Have you had your fill of fun?
Are you ready, Johnnie Bowline,
Now your pay-roll’s spent and done,
And your welcome’s growing stale,
And your pals begin to fail,
And there’s something seems to whisper
That it’s time to sign again —
Time to hit the trail you know,
Time to pay your shot and go,
Time to heave your donkey’s breakfast in
And sail Sou’ Spain!
Are you coming, Johnnie Bowline,
Have you kissed your girl adieu?
There’s a lofty skysail clipper,
And I think she waits for you,
And she’s ready for the sea,
And the Peter’s flying free,
And the wind goes through her rigging
Like a ranting old refrain: —
“Time to find a ship once more,
You’ve been over long ashore,
Time to hump your old sea chest aboard
And sail Sou' Spain!”
Hurry up now, Johnnie Bowline,
For she hasn’t long to stay,
Get a move on, Johnnie Bowline,
If you mean to come away,
For the tide is at the flood,
And the anchor’s off the mud,
And they’re tramping round the capstan
In the darkness and the rain, —
And when oilskins and sea chest
Go the way of all the rest,
Oh, it’s time to take the pierhead jump
And sail Sou' Spain!
Sou' Spain! Sou' Spain,
In the grey dawn breaking chill!
Sou' Spain! Sou' Spain,
Give it lip, lads, with a will!
Oh don’t you weep for me, for me,
My lovely Liza Jane,
You’ll soon forget your sailorman
That’s sailed Sou’ Spain!
Notes
From SEA SONGS AND BALLADS 1917-22, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, US, © 1924, pp. 1-2. Earlier published in SEA SONGS AND BALLADS, © 1922. This poem was first published in PUNCH magazine, Volume 162, February 22, p. 150.
Compare this poem with "Outward Bound" and "Rio Grande."
"Donkey’s breakfast" is slang for the sailor's straw mattress.
"The Peter flying free" refers to the signal flag "Blue Peter" that was flown to alert sailors ashore that their ship was about to depart.
"Pierhead jump" describes how some tardy sailors would join the ship's crew by literally leaping from the dock to the deck as the mooring lines were cast loose.
"Sou' Spain" is a curious geographic reference which may refer to sailors who have traveled south of the Equator.
This poem has been adapted for singing by William Pint (US) as recorded with Felicia Dale and Tom Lewis on MAKING WAVES, © 1992; an alternative setting was done in 1995 by Alan Fitzsimmons as recorded on SEABOOT DUFF & HANDSPIKE GRUEL by Pinch o' Salt.
Charley Noble
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