Johnny Burke
Well it was on this Monday morning and the day be calm and fine
A harbour grace excursion with the boys who had the time
And just before the sailor took the gangway from the pier
I saw some fellow haul me wife aboard as a volunteer
Oh me, oh my, I heard me old wife cry,
Oh me, oh my, I think I'm gonna die!
Oh me, oh my, I heard me old wife say,
"I wish I'd never taken this excursion around the bay"
We had three hundred souls on board, oh what a splendid sight,
Matt Strong in regimentals, to make our spirits bright;
With meself being in the double, with the funny things they'd say,
And they'd choke themselves from laughing, when they see us in the bay.
Now, me wife she got no better, she turned a sickly green,
I gave her soap and candy, fat pork and gasoline;
Castor-oil and sugar of candy, I rubbed hair-oil on her face,
And they said she'd be a dandy, when she reaches Harbour Grace.
My wife she got no better, my wife, my darling dear,
The screeches from her throat, you could hear in Carbonear;
I searched every place in Harbour Grace, searched every store and shop,
To get her something for the cure, or take her to the hop.
Oh, she died below the Brandies, as we were coming back,
We buried her in the ocean, wrapped up in the Union Jack;
And now I am a single man, in search of a pretty face,
And the woman who says she'll have me, I'm off for Harbour Grace!