A Cautionary Song

[Intro] Dm/A Dm/A Dm/A Dm/A

[Verse] Dm/A G/D There's a place your mother goes, when everybody else is soundly sleeping Dm Through the lights of Beacon Street G And if you listen you can hear her weeping A She's weeping

[Chorus] Bb Because the gentlemen are calling F And the snow is softly falling on her petticoats Bb And she's standing in the harbor F And she's waiting for the sailors in the jolly boat. A See how they approach

[Verse] Dm/A G/D With dirty hands and trousers torn they grapple 'til she's safe within their keeping Dm A gag is placed between her lips to keep her sorry tongue from G A Any speaking, or screaming

[Chorus] 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/A G/D And so she goes from ship to ship, her ankles clasped, her arms so rudely pinioned Dm G 'Til at last she's satisfied the lot of the marina's teeming minions A In their opinions

[Chorus] 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 harbor F A Where she goes to bed, and this is how you're fed

[Outro] 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 Gm A A Dm Remember what she does when you're asleep