From: Barrie McCombs
BARRETT’S PRIVATEERS Time: 2/2 Tenor: D Bass: C
— Stan Rogers, 1976, on: Fogarty’s Cove, Between The Breaks, Home In Halifax
1 * 5 1
Oh, the year was seventeen seventy-eight
* 4 1 5 (*)
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
1 5 1 *
A letter of marque came from the king
* * 5 4
To the scummiest vessel I’d ever seen
CHORUS:
5 1 * 4
God damn them all, I was told,
1 4 1 4
We’d cruise the seas for A-merican gold
5 1 5 4 (*)
We’d fire no guns, shed no tears
1 4 1 4
But I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier
* * 5 1
The last of Barrett’s Priva-teers
1 * 5 1
Oh, Elcid Barrett cried the town
* 4 1 5 (*)
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
1 5 1 *
For twenty brave men, all fishermen, who
* * 5 4
Would make for him the Antelope’s crew
1 * 5 1
The Antelope sloop was a sickening sight
* 4 1 5 (*)
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
1 5 1 *
She’d a list to the port and her sails in rags
* * 5 4
And the cook in the scuppers with the staggers and jags
1 * 5 1
On the King’s birth-day we put to sea
* 4 1 5 (*)
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
1 5 1 *
We were ninety-one days to Mon-tego Bay
* * 5 4
Pumping like madmen all the way
GO TO PAGE TWO
BARRETT’S PRIVATEERS page 2
1 * 5 1
On the ninety-sixth day we sailed a-gain
* 4 1 4 (*)
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
1 5 1 *
When a bloody great Yankee hove in sight
* * 5 1
With our cracked four-pounders, we made to fight
1 * 5 1
The Yankee lay low down with gold
* 4 1 5 (*)
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
1 5 1 *
She was broad and fat and loose in stays
* * 5 1
But to catch her took the Antelope two whole days
1 * 5 1
Then at length we stood two cables a-way
* 4 1 5 (*)
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
1 5 1 *
Our cracked four-pounders made an awful din
* * 5 1
But with one fat ball the Yank stove us in
1 * 5 1
The Antelope shook and pitched on her side
* 4 1 5 (*)
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
1 5 1 *
Barrett was smashed like a bowl of eggs
* * 5 1
And the main-truck carried off both me legs
1 * 5 1
So here I lay in my twenty-third year
* 4 1 5 (*)
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
1 5 1 *
It’s been six years since we sailed a-way
* * 5 1
And I just made Halifax yester-day
NOTES:
— Stan Rogers sings acapella
— Parody: Garnet’s Homemade Beer (see under Ian Robb)
SYMBOLS:
— Asterisk (*) = new measure, play same chord
— Period (.) = 1/8 note rest at start of a measure
— Underline(_) = sustain note into next measure
CHORDS (Number System):
— Example: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
— Key of C: C D E F G A B
— Detailed description: /pub/guitar/other_stuff/numbering_system.txt
— Submitted by: Barrie McCombs ([email protected])
