A different Jim Jones, this one a convict in old
Australia...
Jim Jones
Come and listen for a moment, lads,
And hear me tell me tale.
How across the sea from England
I was condemned to sail.
Now the jury found me guilty,
Then says the judge, says he,
"Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm sending you
Across the stormy sea.
But take a tip before you ship
To join the iron gang.
Don't get too gay in Botany Bay,
Or else you'll surely hang.
Or else you'll surely hang," says he.
"And after that, Jim Jones,
It's high upon on the gallows tree
The crows will pick your bones."
And our ship was high upon the sea
When pirates came along,
But the soldiers on our convict ship
Were full five hundred strong.
Oh they opened fire and somehow drove
That pirate ship away
But I'd rather have joined that pirate ship
Than gone to Botany Bay.
With the storms ragin' round us,
And the winds a blowin' gale,
I'd rather have drowned in misery
Than gone to New South Wales.
Now it's day and night the irons clang,
And like poor galley slaves
We toil and toil, and when we die
Must fill dishonored graves,
But it's by and by I'll slip these chains,
Into the bush I'll go
And I'll join the brave bush rangers there,
Jack Donohue and co.
And some dark night, when everything
Is silent in the town
I'll shoot those tyrants one and all,
I'll gun the floggers down.
Oh, I'll give the land a little shock,
Remember what I say,
And they'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones
In chains to Botany Bay.
Traditional.
As sung by Bob Dylan on Good As I Been To You. A different set of words and a slightly different tune from the one Dylan uses can be found at http://crixa.com/muse/songnet/050.html along with a bit of history.