Farewell and adieu to you Spanish ladies,

Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain,

For we’ve received orders to sail for old England,

And we hope in a short while to see you again.

 

Chorus: We’ll rant and we’ll roll,

Like true British sailors,

We’ll rant and we’ll roll all across the salt seas,

Until we strike soundings in the Channel of old England,

From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues!

 

So let ev’ry man raise up his full bumper,

Let every man drink up his full glass,

For we’ll laugh and be jollyAnd chase melancholy,

With a well given toast to each true-hearted lass!

 

Seaman’s song, eighteenth century

This was the only Royal Navy “working chanty.”