Lyrics
A Barbados lady, a Barbados lady
A Barbados lady and her fortune so great
She fell in love with a brave English soldier
Saying, "Oh, if I can't have Jimmy, I'll die for his sake"
A Barbados lady, a Barbados lady
A Barbados lady young Jimmy denied
Saying, "Back in old England my sweetheart is waiting
And when I return I will make her my bride"
She dressed herself in her gorgeous apparel
And in costly diamonds she braided her hair
With a hundred of slaves there to wait all upon her
And with her handmaiden she went to him there
Says, "If you could fancy a Barbados lady
A Barbados lady and her fortune so great
Then you would have servants to wait all upon you
And you'd have sweet music to rock you to sleep"
A Barbados lady, a Barbados lady
A Barbados lady he then did deny
For, "I'm back to old England, my sweetheart is waiting
And when I get home I'll make her my bride"
He sailed away from the Barbados lady
But she wrote a letter to the bosun, her friend
Says, "A handsome reward I freely will give
If the life of young Jimmy you bring to an end"
And as they were a-sailing all over the ocean
Homeward they were bound on board of the ship
For the sake of her body, her wit, and her beauty
He tumbled young Jimmy straight into the deep
In the dead of the night, as Nancy was sleeping
When her drowned dead love at her window appear
Saying, "Arise, arise, oh, my love, oh, my Nancy
Remember the vow you made to your dear"
It's the dead of the night, the moon shined bright
"Oh, surely that be the voice of my dear"
She raised her head from her downy soft pillow
As paler than death he seemed to appear
"Oh, I am the lad that you did admire
My body lies low in the watery deep
Come down to the seashore and there I'll be waiting
And there you and I can take our last sleep"