The shallow blue Pacific
And the continental shelf
Soon gave way to the black and gray
Of the mid-sea trenches with their scaly wenches
And their tales of the mountain elf
Tales of the mountain elf
Me oh my, there's a tear in my eye
Big as the salty sea
Come on down, we'll all drown
Down in the salty sea
They laughed and they danced and they fiddled
They sang their ancient songs
They pulled me into the circle
And said laddy, come along
The black and the gray did soon give way
To the tops of the waves and the sun dappled caves
On the volcanic sands of a virgin land
In the 18th century
In the 18th century
Five hundred nights of drinking
With my dancing fairy friends
I came out of the fog of the gentry's grog
Woke up in the sand of Van Dieman's land
In a planter's chains with a brand new name
And they yoked me to the plow
They yoked me to the plow
I burned the eucalyptus
And I carried off the stones
For fourteen years I worked the fields
And my fingers to the bone
And then one night the planter
Plucked me from my toil
He said I understand you're a dancing man
And fast with a fiddle, and smack in the middle of
The parlor I lept for the Queen
I lept for the visiting Queen
Well the planter he was very well pleased
And kind disposed to me
He invited me in to his cozy den
For cigars and porter and the social order
Was the topic of his drunken screed
The topic of his drunken screed
And he told me:
It took slavery to tame these wild lands
It took slavery to train ten thousand hands
To redirect the river
To build the Grand Canal
The cotton fields, the pyramids, the well
Now I ask you to forgive me
For I struck a devil's deal
My sheets are clean on this packet of steam
For the Cape I am bound and Dublin town
With southern gold in the bottom of the hold
And my star crossed soul to trade for a load
Of Fenian rebels and Carlow boys
And a captain I will be
Yes a captain I will be