Billie, Billie Watts
The last Pirate of the time
In an age of floating clocks
Where water turned into Wine
He was sent on transport docks
For committing a petty crime
Well Billie, Billie Watts
Can you please tell me the time?
It's a quarter to four in the morning
I was born tired and yawning
My mother put on the fire in the hearth
There was warmth and there was mirth
At the hour of my birth
But the fire cried out the last laugh was mine
Oh Billie, Billie Watts will you please tell me the time?
For your story is a long one and we must know of your crime
Well my mother was a poor one and she soon died in time
I became an Orphan child oh but the fire blew wild
Still they gave me to the church in the village of my Birth
And Christ he saved my life on the path where lives cross
I was given to my new father Edward Watts pipe maker
Oh Billie, Billie Watts, will you please tell us the time?
How came you to be lost to this village of thine?
It was as the century turned that I began to learn
My trade that would set me up for my life
I learnt to make clay pipes and carved them with a knife
And the villagers smoked my pipes from all around
Oh Billie, Billie Watts will you please tell us the time?
How came you to be convicted of such a crime?
It is the summer of 1815 and the sky turned dark and grey
From volcanic ash by an eruption in Indonesia they say
Nobody bought my pipes and my masters were not paid
So I was laid off work and in that poor state I stayed
The weathers they were cruel it was cold and snow ruled
In Oakhill not a scrap of food could be spared
I had to beg and borrow and when that failed I could not swallow
And to feed my hunger I stole so I wouldn't starve
Oh Billie, Billie Watts will you tell us what time it is
Is it time for you to be on your way?
Yes I was but a lad of eighteen when the law caught up with me
But I was old enough to know the score
They tried me in the docks and and instead of in the stocks
I was put on a boat bound for Australia
For the next six years, I worked with sweat and tears
And tried to build a life in Van Diemen's land
Life there was hard, but still, I could rely on my skill
That I had learnt back in my home village of Oakhill
Oh Billie, Billie Watts can you tells us what time you've got?
How you lived and you made a living down under?
I lived in this harsh land of devils and sea and sand
But still turned my hand to thieving
Something would turn my head though I'd known I was misled
I did the crime though still believing
I was lashed 200 times for my various crimes
And had so many scars I stopped counting
Oh Billie Billie Watts will you tell us what time you've got
For our clocks have all stopped at the feeling
It is 1821 and my new life had begun, When I married my Mrs Esther Wright
She was a convict just like me, and in our hearts we both were free
From the laws that robbed us of our homelands
I sold bootleg liquor and my boots were quicker,
Than the lawmen who chased me up and down the country
But they finally caught up with me Even though I was free
And they put me back into a prison of their making
Oh Billie, Billie Watts, can you tell us what time you've got
For your time is running out and you must get going
It is 1829 and they've convicted me of another crime
This time a death sentence was pronounced upon me
So they put me on a government ship, and it set off on its trip
All the way across the seas to Cypress
But we were convicts born free and so we had to mutiny
And fought for control of the ship and from our penalty
Oh Billie, Billie Watts, can you tell us what time you've got
For your crime of stealing two pigeons and a piece of cloth
Aboard we fought our captors, overwhelmed their capture
And in my Christian heart I could not harm them
For living is a trial and we must not live in denial
Of our true natures of brotherhood to all men
Instead we set them free on an island in the sea
And we set off on our pirate life to New Zealand
Oh Billie, Billie Watts, can you tell us what time you've got
And how you turned the other cheek and lived as a freeman
We journeyed round the South Sea to China, Tonga and Japan
And lived our merry lives as a pirate and a freeman
Smoked many pipes, read my bible every night
And kept in my heart my homeland
Oh Billie, Billie Watts, can you tell us what time you've got
And how you made it back to your homeland
After such an exciting life, I missed my country's life
And I wanted no more the sea's adventure
So we returned to London docks and in the Thames were put in stocks
And I was tried for piracy like a traitor
But I never harmed my jailors and nor to my faith was a betrayer
But believing in doing unto others what you would have done unto you
Yet the law of England is final and I was executed from a high nail
They hung my body from London bridge as a pirate
In the city of the big smoke, I was a pipe smoking bloke
Who sang his last tune as the last pirate to swing
Oh Billie, Billie Watts now we know what time you've got
You've run out out and now your bell has tolled
Yours is a tragic story, but still one of hope and glory
And life of a strong heart and spirit never sold
