Five Excellent New Songs (c. 1800, "Gragal Ma Chree")/Tom Tough

Tom Tough.

My name d’ye ſee’s Tom Tough, I have ſeen a little ſervice,
Where mighty billows rol and loud tempeſts blow
I’ve ſail’d with vailent Howe, I’ve ſail’d with noble Jervis
And in gallant Duncan’s fleet I’ve sung out Yo heave, ho!
Yet more ye ſhall be knowing I was Cockſwain to Buſcawen,
And even with brave Hawke, I‘ve noble fac‘d the foe
Then put round the grog ſo we‘ve that, and our prog
We‘ll laugh in care’s face, and ſing Yo, have, ho!

When from my love to part, I firſt weigh‘d anchor,
And ſhe foiveling, was ſeen on the beach below,
I’d like to hurt my eyes, ſnivelling too, d‘ye ſee to thank her!
But I brought my ſorrows up with a Yo, heave ho!

For tailors tho‘ they have there jokes and love and feel like other folks
Their duty to neglect, muſt not come and go
So I ſeiz’d the capſtern bar, like a true honeſt, tar,
And in ſpite of ſighs and tears, ſung Yo, heave ho!

But the worſt on‘t ‘twas the time, when the little ones were ſickly,

Whether they‘d live or die the docter did not know,
The word was given to weigh ſo ſuddenly and quickly,
Thought my heart would break and ſung Yo, heave ho!

For Poll‘s like her mother and as ſo, Jack her brother,
The boy when he grows up, will nobly fight the foe,
But in providence I truſt, whatever muſt be muſt
Be my ſighs I gave the winds and ſung out Yo, heave ho!

And now at laſt laid up in a decentiſh condition,
For I‘ve only loſt an eye and got a timber toe.
At old ſhips muſt expect in time to be out of commiſſion,
But again to weigh anchor, with a Yo, heave ho!

I ſmoke my pipe and ſing old ſongs for my boys ſhall revenge my wrongs,
And my girls ſhall breed young Sailors nobly for to face the foe.
Then to country and King, Foes no danger can bring,
While the Yars of Old England ſing out Yo, heave ho!