Little did I think when the judge first spoke

Those awful words to me

That I would feel again the cold winds blow

And a heart would beat in 'Babbacombe' Lee



I was born to lead a life of sorrow

I've friends hang their heads in shame



Growing tired and weary of the morrow

Tortured by my terrible name

When I was fifteen, my father called to me

Saying "Now you are a man and all men work

There's a lady and they say her name's Miss Keyes

Her pony's very old, it needs a nurse"



For eighteen months I worked for her at ?Hadley Glen?

She was like a mother to me

But time goes slowly when you're thinking wishfully

Of all the other places to be



There were boats drifting in the harbour

There were sailors talking in the town

That's the life for a boy who wants to wander

For a man who doesn't want to settle down