Hell's Pavement

“When I’m discharged at Liverpool ‘n’ draws my bit o’ pay,

I won’t come to sea no more;

I’ll court a pretty little lass ‘n’ have a weddin’ day,

‘N’ settle somewhere down shore;

I’ll never fare to sea again a-temptin’ Davy Jones,

A-hearkening to the cruel sharks a-hungerin’ for my bones;

I’ll run a blushin’ dairy-farm or go a-crackin’ stones,

Or buy ‘n’ keep a little liquor-store” &mdash

So he said.

They towed her in to Liverpool, we made the hooker fast,

And the copper-bound official paid the crew,

And Billy drew his money, but the money didn’t last,

For he painted the alongshore blue, &mdash

It was rum for Poll, and rum for Nan, and gin for Jolly Jack;

He shipped a week later in the clothes upon his back;

He had to pinch a little straw, he had to beg a sack

To sleep on, when his watch was through, &mdash

So he did.

From Salt-Water Poems & Ballads, by John Masefield, published by The MacMillan Co., NY, © 1921, p. 25; first published in SALT-WATER POEMS, © 1902.This is the classic sailor story of swearing never to go to sea again, only to go on a binge in sailortown upon being discharged from one's ship."Painted the alongshore blue" means spending his money freely in Sailortown.The header graphic, "Whorehouse District in a French Sea Port," is drawn by shantyman and sea songs editor Stan Hugill, from SAILORTOWN, edited by Stan Hugill, published by Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, UK, © 1967, p. 151.Charley Noble