We Be Three Poor Mariners

Melody -

First published in 1609

We be three poor mariners,
Newly come from the seas,
We spend our lives in jeopardy,
While others live at ease.
|: Shall we go dance the Round,
The round, the round? :|
And he that is a bully boy,
Come, pledge me on this ground,
This ground, this ground!

2. We care not for those martial men
That do our states disdain;
But we care for those merchantmen
That do our states maintain.
|: Shall we go dance the Round,
The round, the round? :|
And he that is a bully boy,
Come, pledge me on this ground,
This ground, this ground!

One of the earliest songs in the collection, 'We be three poor Mariners' first appeared in Deuteromalia Thomas Ravenscroft's second collection of rounds and catches etc. published in 1609. It is also found in a manuscript of Scottish melodies of about 1630 where it is given in lute tablature. 'We be three poor Mariners' was sung to one of the best loved dance tunes of the seventeenth century a period when the English were known on the continent as 'The Dancing English'. It is interesting to find sailors already deeming themselves superior to mere soldiers!