Sally Brown
This capstan shanty is also known as Roll 'n' Go. There were several obscene verses in some versions. The shanty is probably from Jamaica where it was often sung ashore. It was also used by American lumbermen and in the West Indies as an 'axe-cutting' song. According to Stan Hugill, the earliest reference to the shanty is in a description of a passage to America in the 1830s.
Sally Brown
I
shipped on board of a Liverpool liner,
Way, hey, roll and go!
And we rolled all night and we rolled all day
Gonna spend my money on Sally
Brown
Now Sally Brown is a fine young lady
Sally won my heart completely
Seven long years I courted Sally
But her mother didn’t like no tarry sailor
Now she’s married to a one-legged captain
Sally
Brown I’m bound to leave you
I
shipped on board of a Liverpool liner