A long, long time ago (Halliard's Shanty)
Language: English
A long, long time, and a long time ago, To me way hay, yoho; A long, long time, and a long time ago, A long time ago. A smart Yankee packet lay out in the bay, To me way hay, yoho; A waiting for a fair wind to get under way, A long time ago. With all her poor sailors all sick and sore, To me way hay, yoho; For they'd drunk all their lime-juice, and could get no more, A long time ago. With all her poor sailors all sick and sad, To me way hay, yoho; For they'd drunk all their lime-juice, and could get no more, A long time ago. She was waiting for a fair wind to get under way, To me way hay, yoho; If she hasn't had a fair wind she's waiting there still, A long time ago.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, Baron Berners (1883 - 1950), "A long, long time ago (Halliard's Shanty)", 1921, published 1922 [ voice and piano ], from Three songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2016-08-03
Line count: 20
Word count: 144