A Cautionary Song

Dm                   Dm/A              Dm        Dm/A            G/D
There's a place your mother goes, when everybody else is soundly sleeping
Dm                    Dm/A
Through the lights of beacon street
Dm                Dm/A             G
And if you listen you can hear her weeping,
      A                  Bb
She's weeping, cause the gentlemen are calling
                                      F
And the snow is softly falling on her petticoats.
           Bb
And she's standing in the harbour
                                         F
And she's waiting for the sailors in the jolly boat.
        A
See how they approach
Dm                   Dm/A               Dm                 Dm/A
With dirty hands and trousers torn they grapple 'til she's safe
             G/D
within their keeping
  Dm              Dm/A              Dm             Dm/A
A gag is placed between her lips to keep her sorry tongue from
    G            A
any speaking, or screaming
         Bb
And they row her out to packets where the sailor's sorry racket
          F
calls for maidenhead
          Bb
And she's scarce above the gunwales when her clothes fall to a
                 F                  A
bundle and she's laid in bed on the upper deck

[Interlude]
Gm              A           Gm           A
La la la la laa,la la la laa,

[Verse]
Dm                   Dm/A              Dm                  Dm/A
And so she goes from ship to ship, her ankles clasped, her arms
          G/D
so rudely pinioned
Dm                 Dm/A          Dm           Dm/A
Till at last she's satisfied the lot of the marina's teeming
G                  A
minions, in their opinions
         Bb
And they tell her not to say a thing to cousin, kindred, kith or
              F
kin or she'll end up dead
         Bb
And they throw her thirty dollars and return her to the harbour
          F                        A
where she goes to bed, and this is how you're fed
     Gm                                   A
So be kind to your mother, though she may seem an awful bother,
        Gm                                      A
and the next time she tries to feed you collard greens,
                                          A    Dm
Remember what she does when you're asleep