[Ye Ranting Roving Billows All] A Lilt

Ye ranting roving billows all
Who love to hector, swear and bawl
Some in scarlet, some in buff
Some with their aprons on
But I in my tarpaulin dressed
Can be as jovial as the rest
And sing love songs as well as the best
While I sing lumma diddley dum
Liddley ump tum tiddle all a day.

As I was at my sport and game
A friend of mine from shipping came
I called my landlady by her name
And bade her for to draw
A bowl of toddy stout and sweet
On purpose my good friend to treat
It was all for a satisfaction sake
While I sing &c.

Then she began to curse and cry
“You’ve almost drinked my cellar dry”
Then in a passion she did fly
And swo’er she’d take the law
“Madam,” said I, “you may do your worst
For I have hardly quenched my thirst”
Twas then she hectored swo’er and cursed
While I sang &c.

Then for bum-bailiffs she did send
They got their writs and on they came
A-thinking to have struck me dumb
And sent me to limbo
But their bum-bailiffs I did maul
I knocked their noses against the wall
"'Tis you," says I, "shall pay for all"
While I sing &c.