1.
I’m Lighterman Tom o’ Tilbury town; I’m known as the jolly Bargee.
No sailorin’ chap, in buttons and cap, Could teach me a lesson-not he!
Why, I’ve followed this river, this same old river, Since I was a youngster of nine;
An’ from Twickenham down to Tilbury town, They know this old vessel of mine.
You may sing of your life a-shore,
You may sing of your life at sea,
With a yo, ho, ho, for the winds that blow,
But that’s all fiddle-de-dee!
I reckon I’m I’m fancy free,
And the song for the likes o’ me.
Is “Hey! for the river, the jolly old river,
That carries your old Bargee!”
2.
There’s many a tide run under the bridge, Since the lassies all stood in a row
An’ the kisses they threw were more than a few To Lighterman Tom below;
There wasn’t a man from Beer-she-ba to Dan, As would not have swopp’d places with me,
When your dimity girls, all crackers and curls, Used to sigh for a young Bargee
You may sing of your life a-shore,
You may sing of your life at sea,
With a yo, ho, ho, for the winds that blow,
But that’s all fiddle-de-dee!
I reckon I’m I’m fancy free,
And the song for the likes o’ me.
Is “Hey! for the river, the jolly old river,
That carries your old Bargee!”
3.
There’s a widow as lives in Tilbury town An’ a snug little dowry has she
Tho’ nigh up on fifty she’s buxom and thrifty, An’ setting her cap at me.
But widows an’ sich, be they never so rich, Why bless ye! I’m bound to decline
For I’ve promised to stick, thro’ thin and thro’ thick, To this precious old ‘hooker’ o’ mine.
You may sing of your life a-shore,
You may sing of your life at sea,
With a yo, ho, ho, for the winds that blow,
But that’s all fiddle-de-dee!
I’m only an old Bargee
And as long as I’m fancy free
I’ll stick to the river, the jolly old river,
The same as she sticks to me.