The lines "Bless you, young women" and "O mind what I do say" are sometimes sung in chorus.
Miall, Everyman's Book of Sea Songs, claims this song's origin is unmistakably akin to one in Thomas Heywood's play The Rape of Lucrece, which was playing in London in about 1630:
It was certainly extremely popular at the time and was presumably taken on board by sailors and used as a capstan or heaving shanty. The words have been rewritten several thousand times by those with an eye for sobriety rather than authenticity. But somehow the original intentions of those ancient singers is never quite sublimated.
In Plymouth town there lived a maid;
Bless you young women;
In Plymouth town there lived a maid;
O mind what I do say;
In Plymouth town there lived a maid,
And she was mistress of her trade,
I'll go no more a-roving
With you, fair maid.
Ch: A-roving, a-roving,
Since roving's been my ruin
I'll go no more a-roving
With you, fair maid.
I took this fair maid for a walk,
And we had such a loving talk.
I took her hand within my own
And said: I'm bound for my old home.
In Amsterdam there lived a maid,
And she was mistress of her trade,
I'll go no more a-roving with you, fair maid!
A-roving, a-roving!, since roving's been my ru-i-in
I'll go no more a-roving with you, fair maid!
This last six months I've been to sea,
And boys, this maid looked good to me.
Her cheeks were like the roses red,
And her eyes were like twin stars at night.
I kissed this fair maid on both cheeks.
Says she, "Young man, you're rather free!"
In three weeks' time I was badly bent,
And then to sea I sadly went,
In a red-hot Yank bound around Cape Horn,
And all my clothes they were in pawn,
Bound around Cape Horn and up to Callao
And then load 'petre fer Liverpool.
Alternately, in place of the last two stanzas
My clothes and sea-boots in the pawn,
On a red-hot Yank bound around Cape Horn!
Around Cape Horn through frost an' snow
An' up th' coast to Callao
To load saltpeter for Liverpool
An' back around Cape Horn again!