Dead Horse
Hymnal Index | Ship's Company Website
(Long Drag Shanty)
A poor old man came riding by
And we say so, and we hope so
They say old man your horse will die,
Oh, poor old horse.
For thirty days I've ridden him,
And when he dies we'll tan his skin,
And if he lives, I'll ride him again,
I'll ride him with a tighter rein
We'll use the hair of his tail to sew our sails
And the iron of his shoe to make deck nails
We'll hoist him up to the fore yard-arm
Where he won't do sailors any harm
We'll drop him down with a long, long roll
Where the sharks will have his body and the Devil take his soul.
It's up aloft the horse must go,
We'll hoist him up and bury him low.
He's dead as a nail in the lamproom door
He's dead as a nail, the son of a whore.