Chinatown Bumboat

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I was strolling down Sand Street 
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one fine summer night
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And I spied a fair damsel as she 
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hove in sight.
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I ran up my number, to which she 
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replied,
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"I'm a Chinatown bumboat going 
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out with the tide,
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"I'm a Chinatown bumboat going 
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out with the tide."

[Verse 2]
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I passed her a hawser and took 
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her in tow,
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We crossed down the way like a 
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couple should go.
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We turned in an alley not too 
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clean or neat,
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And we dropped out mudhooks at 
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the end of the street.
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And we dropped out mudhooks at 
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the end of the street.

[Verse 3]
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She then led me up to a 
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third-story floor,
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And in her fine stateroom I soon 
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laid her o'er.
Continues after the ad
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She cleaned up her courses and 
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her red flag downhaul,
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Laid her lily-white hand on me 
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reeftackle-fall.
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Laid her lily-white hand on me 
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reeftackle-fall.

[Verse 4]
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I gazed in her sternsheets, saw 
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plenty of room,
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And into her hullpipe I shoved 
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my jibboom.
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With her fenders o'erhanging like
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 a bent scupper's lip,
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Pretty Polly's a pirate who 
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scuttled my ship.
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Pretty Polly's a pirate who 
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scuttled my ship.

[Verse 5]
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She rolled and she pitched like 
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a ship in a storm,
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And cried out, "Oh, sailor, 
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you're doing me harm!
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You're in the wrong port!" she 
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cried out in alarm.
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Well, the wrong port be damned, 
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any port in a storm.
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Well, the wrong port be damned, 
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any port in a storm.

[Verse 6]
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She burnt down me rigging clean 
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down to the hull,
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And back to the sickbay me punt 
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I did scull.
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With me foregaps all bent and me 
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mainmast unstrung,
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The doctor said, "Sailor, yer 
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jibboom is sprung."
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The doctor said, "Sailor, yer 
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jibboom is sprung."

[Verse 7]
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Now I'm lying in sickbay, me 
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stern to the wall,
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The Chinatown bumboat the cause 
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of it all.
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It's ashes to ashes and dust unto
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 dust,
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Tell me, where is the woman a 
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sailor can trust?
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Tell me, where is the woman a 
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sailor can trust?