- Nancy Lee

Words: Frederic Weatherly
Tune: Stephan Adams

This song was written in 1840 in Oxford by Frederic Weatherly, who also wrote the words to "Danny Boy". Nancy Lee was described by Oake Marten as a "good old tarry song". The version here is based on the version by the Lübeck Shanty Choir.
It is perhaps best sung in dialogue with other songs that consider the lives of the women left behind, such as Twiddles and Sweet Mary Starbuck.

Of all the wives I ever saw, Yeo ho!
Yeo ho! Let’s go! Yeo ho! Let’s go!
There’s none like Nancy Lee I know, Yeo ho!
Yeo ho! Let’s go! Yeo ho!
See there she stands an’ waves her hands upon the quay,
An’ ev’ry day when I’m away, she’ll watch for me,
An whisper low when tempests blow, for Jack at sea;
Yeo ho! Let’s go! Yeo ho!

The sailor’s wife, the sailor’s star shall be,
Yeo ho! we go across the sea,
The sailor’s wife, the sailor’s star shall be,
The sailor’s wife his star shall be.

The harbour’s past, the breezes blow,
Yeo ho! Let’s go! Yeo ho! Let’s go!
Tis long ere we come back I know;
Yeo ho! lads! ho! yeo ho!
But true an bright from morn till night my home will be,
An’ all so neat an snug an’ sweet, for Jack at sea,
An’ Nancy’s face to bless
Yeo ho! Let’s go! Yeo ho!

The sailor’s wife, the sailor’s star shall be…

The Bo’s’n pipes the watch below;
Yeo ho! Let’s go! Yeo ho! Let’s go!
Then here’s a health afore we go,
Yeo ho! Let’s go! Yeo ho!
A long, long, life to my sweet wife, and mates at sea,
An’ keep our bones from Davy Jones where’er we be,
An’ may you meet a mate as sweet as Nancy Lee;
Yeo ho! Let’s go! Yeo ho!

The sailor’s wife, the sailor’s star shall be…