by Bob Dylan (arr)



1. Come and listen for a moment, lads,

And hear me tell my tale.

How across the sea from England

I was condemned to sail.

Now the jury found me guilty,

Then says the judge, says he,

"Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm sending you

Across the stormy sea.

But take a tip before you ship

To join the iron gang.

Don't get too gay in Botany Bay,

Or else you'll surely hang.

Or else you'll surely hang," says he.

"And after that, Jim Jones,

It's high above on the gallows tree

The crows will pick your bones."



2. And our ship was high upon the sea

Then pirates came along,

But the soldiers on our convict ship

Were full five hundred strong.

For they opened fire and somehow drove

That pirate ship away.

But I'd rather have joined that pirate ship

Tan gone to Botany Bay.

With the storms ragin' round us,

And the winds a-blowin' gale,

I'd rather have drowned in misery

Than gone to New South Wales.



3. Now it's day and night and the irons clang,

And like poor galley slaves

We toil and toil, and when we die

Must fill dishonored graves,

And it's by and by I'll slip my chains,

Well, into the bush I'll go

And I'll join the bravest rankers there,

Jack Donohue and co.

And some dark night, when everything

Is silent in the town

I'll shoot those tyrants one and all,

I'll gun the flogger down.

Oh, I'll give the land a little shock,

Remember what I say,

And they'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones

In chains to Botany Bay.