The Ballad of Pirate William Watts

 

I was born C in the town Shepton Mallet

Appren F tice to a pipe maker G man

In C Oakhill where I found my Am vocation

I Dm wandered G around that sweet C town

 

Then a C sudden disaster hit the nation

The sun F was hidden by G a hand

I C lost my job and turned to (Am) stealin

Trans(Dm) ported to (G) Van Diemen’s (C)land

 

Chorus

Caged (Am) canaries sing of freedom

A bird in the (Dm)  bush is worth two in the (G) hand

On a (Am) ship we were (F) condemned men

(C)  Down in Van(G)  Diemen’s (C) land

 

In that (C) hell hole I found Ester

Trans(F) ported for ten years(G) long

For(C) stealin a loaf for her (Am)family

On (Dm) prison island (G) we got(C) along

 

(C) Living was rough, dying easy

We (F) never had enough cash in (G)hand

So I (C) made and sold bootleg (Am)whisky

So (Dm) we might (G) escape Van Diemen’s(C) land

 

Chorus

Caged (Am) canaries sing of freedom

A (Dm) bird in the bush is worth two in the (G) hand

On the(Am) ship we were (F) condemned men

(C) Down in Van(G) Diemen’s (C) land

 

(C) Lashed by the law when they caught me

(F) Two hundred or more I could not (G) stand

(C) I swore to friends and (Am) family

(Dm) That one day I’d (G) escape Van Diemen’s(C) land

 

(C) Next time I bootlegged I was running

From town (F) to town and formed a (G) gang

(C)  But the lawmen who caught me were (Am) cunning

And the(Dm)  judge told me(G)  I would(C)  hang

 

Chorus

Caged(Am) canaries sing of freedom

A bird in the bush(Dm) is worth two in the (G) hand

On a(Am) ship we were condemned (F) men

Down (C) in Van(G) Diemen’s (C) land

 

 Part 2

On a (C) brig to Macquarie Harbour

Death (F) sentence for us they(G) say

At anchor (C) the crew went (Am) a fishing

And we (Dm) cons (G) mutinied (C) away

 

(C) Now we were free canaries

(F)  Pirates bound for New Zea(G) land

(C) Lost our way we met with (Am) Samurai

(Dm) Picture me pipe(G) man in(C) Japan

 

Chorus

Caged(Am) canaries sing of freedom

A bird in the bush(Dm) is worth two in the (G) hand

On a(Am) ship we were condemned (F) men

Down (C) in Van(G) Diemen’s (C) land

 

(C) we knew our British hunters

We(F)   scuppered the ship off (G) Canton

And (C) pretended to be (Am) survivors

Of another (Dm) wreck but (G) that crew came (C) along

 

(C) Caught again we were arrested

Put back (F)   on a ship for(G) England

Oh (C) but my trial went (Am) unattested

They hung (Dm) me as the (G) last pirate (C) man

 

(C) My name is William Watts the pirate

The last(F) man for piracy to(G) hang

For (C) stealing a pigeon I was (Am) sent to prison

That (Dm) place called (G) Van Diemen’s (C) land

Chorus:

Caged(Am) canaries sing of freedom

A bird in (Dm) the bush is worth two in the (G) hand

On a(Dm) ship we were (F) condemned men

Down (C) in Van(G) Diemen’s (C) land

A sunless year Part 1

 Twas in the year of 1816, 

the darkest year that had ever been

The sun never shone in the sky

And all of my dreams, 

like shadows in the streams

Flew away like the birdies that fly

It was a sunless year

And Billie was a piper lad

Making pipes but smoking sad

The volcano blew the greyest rings

Around the sun that spring

He walked the Fosseway

But crops had died off 

No green, but only grey

It was a sunless year

He lost his job sent on his way

He began to rob to reach end of day

Intact, but broken like the clay

Of pipes in Oakhill's gardens

Then one day they caught him stealin'

And the Law was hard as iron feelin'

It was a sunless year

He was sent Van Diemen's land

Where they ruled with iron hand

And the chain gangs marched the roads

Like in hell of the damned souls

And though he was burnt by the sun

He was now a man on the run

It was a sunless year 

Escaped convicts don't last long 

But he was tough and he was strong

So he survived only for the law to trap him

This time they gave him 200 lashes

Then back in chains he was fastened

It was a sunless year

 

But time it passed

As cloud ships above him

And he met a wife with children

Helped to care and bear the burden

But soon the pull was strong upon him

The pull towards his freedom

The chance it came when he sold some whisky

Outlawed for Van Diemen's territory

And chased out of town again

His path could only have one end

The canary man had flown his cage

One too many times law's patience

If it could be called turned to rage

And upon a prison ship he was chained

This ship the Cyprus was to carry him 

From Research Bay to Macquarie Harbour

A renowned cruel colony for the hardened

Criminal fraternity deemed beyond redemption

Here there really would be no hope

To save him from the end of a rope

So like any sane men condemned to die

They tried their luck so they might fly

The deadly jaws of death

And overcoming drunken guards

the convicts seized the Cyprus hard

Mutinied and marooned the crew upon the island

For this crime they were well renowned

In papers over Australian towns

And news of course reached the British dominions

So that a Her Majesty's Royal Navy hunted them

And yet these convicts turned pirates

Managed to evade capture through the skills of their leader

Who had escaped many times before

And been saved by his naval skills succour

Last Pirate

 I went out a plundering on the high seas

I thought to meself, now this isn't me

This is the last time I'm going to sea

The last pirate I will be

I shall tell all my pirate buddies just free

We shall go no more a sailing

Hey buddies hey cons listen to me

I'm gonna show you the pros of the straight n narrow see

We're gonna sail to Canton and hand ourselves in

There ain't nothing worse than being a pirate, it's a sin

So we left Japan and went to Canton

But it didn't go to plan, I can tell you that man

On the 15th of November 1829 , well I was a pirate for 

The very last time

And then the English bastards threw me in the stocks

And I ended up back in London in Executioner's dock

And when they said did I have any last words

With my head in the noose I could hardly be heard

So I asked if they could loosen it a bit so I could yell

And when they did I cried I hope you all go to hell

For this is the last place I thought I end up

When laid I down my sword and put down my rum cup

Oh if you ever think you should stop doing what you love

I tell you you this for free it won't ever be enough

So keep being a pirate for as long as you can

Because before you know it you'll be hung by the man

So they hung me by the neck in 1830

I was the last pirate to be hung for mutiny

And other crimes I suppose like robbing a prison ship

Full of provisions,

But they whole scummy scheme to build a colony

deserved derision

They used slave labour to build Tasmania,

Australia and New Zealand

And then if you didn't die in the process

You were allowed to be freemen

But that ain't no deal for stealing a pigeon

And that's why I rebelled and stole the ship prison

I'd do it again, though now I am dead

So I'll just go down in history

As the last man to be hung for piracy

You can remember me as the Last Pirate instead

Billie Watts- the last pirate

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 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