Lyrics
High Barbaree
Forebitter or Foc’sle Song and Capstan Shanty
Traditional
There was a gallant lofty ship, A-sailing on the sea,
(Resp): Blow high ! Blow low ! and so sailed we.
And her Captain he was searching for a pirate enemy,
(Resp): A-sailing down along the coasts of High Barbaree.
Look ahead, look astern, look the weather and the lee,
(Resp): Blow high ! Blow low ! and so sailed we.
I see a wreck to windward and a lofty ship to lee,
(Resp): A-sailing down along the coasts of High Barbaree.
O hail her! O hail her!” our gallant cap’n cried,
(Resp): Blow High! Blow low! And so sailed we.
“Are you a man-o’-war or a privateer?” cried he.
(Resp): A-sailing down along the coasts of High Barbaree.
Oh, no I’m not a man-o’-war, nor privateer,” cried he,
(Resp): Blow High! Blow low! And so sailed we.
“But I’m a salt sea pirate, all a-lookin’ for me fee!”
(Resp): A-sailing down along the coasts of High Barbaree.
For broadside, for broadside, a long time we lay;
(Resp): Blow high ! Blow low ! and so sailed we.
Until at last the frigate shot the pirate’s mast away.
(Resp): A-sailing down along the coasts of High Barbaree.
For quarters ! For quarters ! the saucy pirates cried.
(Resp): Blow high ! Blow low ! and so sailed we.
The quarters that we showed them was to sink them in the tide.
(Resp): A-sailing down along the coasts of High Barbaree.
But O ! It was a cruel sight, and grieved us full sore,
(Resp): Blow high ! Blow low ! and so sailed we.
To see them all a-drowning as they tried to swim to shore.
(Resp): A-sailing down along the coasts of High Barbaree.
With cutlass, and with gun, O we fought them hours three;
(Resp): Blow high ! Blow low ! and so sailed we.
The ship it was their coffin, and their grave it was the sea.
(Resp): A-sailing down all on the coasts of High Barbaree.
(Resp): A-sailing down all on the coasts of High Barbaree.
WHERE TO FIND IT
Song Notes
Dean: My friend, Robin Jeffrey, is a music scholar whom I trust, and here are his notes from when his group, The New Scorpion Band, sang High Barbaree in 2004 on their CD Out on the Ocean. They noted:
“Our version is taken from the Burl Ives songbook, but the suggestion there that the song was written by Charles Dibdin is incorrect, and instead the various versions derive from an old ballad The Sailor s Onely Delight: showing the Brave Fight between the George Aloe and the Sweepstake and certaine Frenchmen on the Sea. The song was sung at sea as a forebitter and as a capstan shanty.”
For Bounding Main’s version of this song on our album, Lost at Sea, we recorded the incredible Elizabethan Era reenactment group from Wisconsin, the Guilde of St. Michael of Bristol, head up by Chris Last and Rick Kakouris. They enthusiastically provided sounds of sword fights, foot falls and shouts for the recording.