The Handsome Cabin Boy Lyrics - Kate Bush

It's of a pretty female 

As you may understand. 

Her mind being bent for rambling 

Unto some foreign land, 

She dressed herself in sailor's clothes, 

Or so it does appear, 

And she hired with a captain 

To serve him for a year. 

[The captain's wife she being on board, 

She seemed in great joy 

To think the captain had engaged 

Such a handsome cabin boy, 

That now and then she'd slip him a kiss, 

And she'd have liked to toy, 

But 'twas the captain found out the secret 

Of the handsome cabin boy.] 

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Her cheeks they were like roses 

And her hair rolled in a curl. 

The sailors often smiled and said 

He looked just like a girl. 

But eating of the captain's biscuit 

Her colour did destroy, 

And the waist did swell of pretty Nell, 

The handsome cabin boy. 

It was in the bay of Biscay 

Our gallant ship did plow. 

One night among the sailors 

Was a fearful flurry and row.* 

They tumbled from their hammocks 

For their sleep it did destroy, 

And they sworn about the groaning 

Of the handsome cabin boy. 

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"Oh doctor, dear, oh doctor," 

The cabin boy did cry. 

"My time has come, I am undone, 

And I will surely die." 

The doctor come a-runnin' 

And a-smilin' at the fun. 

To think a sailor lad should have 

A daughter or a son. 

The sailors when they saw the joke 

They all did stand and stare. 

The child belonged to none of them, 

They solemnly did swear. 

The captain's wife, she says to him, 

"My dear, I wish you joy, 

For 'tis either you or me's betrayed 

The handsome cabin boy!" 

[Now sailors, take your tot of rum 

And drink success to trade, 

And likewise to the cabin boy 

That was neither man nor maid. 

Here's hoping the wars don't rise again 

Our sailors to destroy, 

And here's hoping for a jolly lot more