15 men on the dead man's chest
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike
The bosun brained with a marlinspike
And Cookey's throat was marked, belike
It had been gripped by fingers, ten
And there they lay, all good dead men
Like break o' day in a boozin' ken
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
15 men of the whole ship's list
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
Dead and bedamned, and the rest gone whist
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
The skipper lay with his knob in gore
Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shorn
And the scullion, he was stabbed, times four
And there they lie
And the soggy skies dripped all day long in up-staring eyes
In murk sunset, and foul sunrise
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
15 men of 'em, stiff and stark
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
Ten of the crew had the murder mark
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
T'was a cutlass swipe, or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scupper's glut with a rotting red
And there they lie
Aye, damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrary-wise
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
15 men on the dead man's chest
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
We wrapped them all in a mainsail, tight
With twice-ten turns of the hawser's bight
Then we heaved 'em o'er and out of sight
With a yo heave ho, and a fare thee well
And a sodden plunge in the Southern swell
Ten fathoms deep on the road to Hell
Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum
Ha!