Verse 1
 
G 
My name, 'tis William Hollander 
    C       D      G 
As you will understand 
       G          C         D     G 
I was born in the County of Waterford 
 G                     D 
Close by her salt sea strand 
         G     D         C     G 
And when I was young and in my prime 
 G                   D 
Good fortune upon me shone 
        G      D         G      D 
And my parents raised me tenderly 
            D    G 
I was their only son 
 
Verse 2
 
G 
Oh, my father rose one morning 
     C             D     G 
And along with him I did go. 
      G        C       D         G 
He apprenticed me as a butcher’s boy 
   G                D 
To Pearson’s of Wicklow 
      G          D      C  G 
And I wore their bloody aprons 
     G                  D 
For three long yеars or more 
      G        D         G      D 
Til I shipped aboard The Ocеan Queen 
  C       D      G 
Belonging to Tramore 
 
Verse 3
 
G 
‘Twas in Bermuda's sunny isle 
   C       D       G 
I met with Captain Moore 
    G       C      D      G 
The skipper of the Flying Cloud 
G                 D 
The pride of Baltimore 
      G     D      C         G 
And I undertook to ship with him 
     G                  D 
On a slaving voyage to go 
       G       D         G    D 
To the burning shores of Africa 
          C      D        G 
Where the sugar cane does grow. 
 
Verse 4
 
G 
And when we came at last unto 
C        D       G 
Africa's burning shore 
      G         C    D       G 
Five hundred of them weeping blacks 
G                          D 
From their native lands we tore 
   G      D       C    G 
We loaded them in iron chain 
       G               D 
And we made them go below 
       G        D      G      D 
Scarce eighteen inches to the man 
    C        D       G 
Was all they had to show. 
 
Verse 5
 
G 
And the plague came and the fever, too 
       C            D       G 
And it k*lled them off like flies 
   G             C      D     G 
We brought their bodies up on deck 
G                         D 
And we dumped them in the tide 
    G         D         C    G 
But those who died were luckier 
     G                      D 
For they need not grieve no more 
   G        D        G        D 
Or wear the chain or feel the lash 
   C       D    G 
In Cuba forever more. 
 
Verse 6
 
G 
Oh, we robbed and we plundered many a ship 
     C          D        G 
Both liner and frigate, too 
  G     C       D     G 
Until a British man-o-war 
     G                 D 
The Dungeness, hove in view 
        G        D     C        G 
And she fired a shot across our bow 
       G                D 
As we sailed before the wind 
G          D           G        D 
Chain-shot brought our mainmast down 
     C      D     G 
And we fell far behind. 
 
Verse 7
 
G 
So, fare thee well, old Waterford 
           C      D   G 
And to the girl I do adore 
     G     C         D      G 
I'll never kiss your mouth again 
     G                      D 
I’ll squeeze your breast no more 
    G       D       C     G 
For whiskey and bad company 
    G              D 
Has made a fool of me 
    G        D            G       D 
So, come all young men, a warning take 
          C        D   G 
Won't you shun all piracy?