Artist Name
Bob Dylan
Jim Jones
This file was taken from a file at OLGA a couple of years ago (no longer
there) and no author information was given.
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Come and listen for a moment lads and hear me tell my tale
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How across the sea from England I was condemned to sail
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How the jury found me guilty, then says the judge says he
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"Oh for life Jim Jones I'm sending you across the stormy sea
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Oh take a tip before you ship to join the iron gang
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Don't get too gay in Botany Bay or else you'll surely hang
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Or else you'll surely hang" says he and after that Jim Jones
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It's high up upon the gallis tree the crows will pick your bones
Well our ship was high upon the sea when pirates came along
But the soldiers on our convict ship were a full five-hundred strong
Oh they opened fire and somehow drove that pirate ship away
But I'd rather have joined that pirate ship than gone to Botany Bay
With the storms raging round us and the winds a-blowin' gales
I'd rather have drowned in misery than gone to New South Wales
There's no time for mischief there they say, remember that says they
For they'll flog the poachin' out of you down there in Botany Bay
Oh it's day and night the iron clangs and like poor galley slaves
We toil and toil and when we die, must fill dishonoored graves
But it's by and by I'll slip my chains and to the bush I'll go
And I'll join the brave Bush Rangers there, Jack Donahue and Co.
And some dark night when everything is silent in the town
I'll shoot those tyrants on and all, I'll gun the floggers down
Oh, I'll give the law no little shock, remember what I say
And they'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones in chains to Botany Bay