Sailor Song
© Maria Dunn, 2007
Arranged Maria Dunn & The McDades

Many years ago, I chanced upon a book called The Blessings of a Good Thick Skirt by Irish journalist Mary Russell. This collection of women's travel experiences contained a story about Mary Read, who disguised herself as a man and signed on with pirate Calico Jack in the 1700s. That much is true.

***

In 1700 I left my old home
I signed on a ship and I started to roam
I'd never a father, I'd never belonged
I just had my fiddle and my mother's sad songs

The first ship I came to, the captain said "no
Too scrawny and pale, in a gale you would blow"
The next ship I came to, the captain said "son
If you play for me, I'm glad to have you along"

We sailed down to Cuba, though ambushed were we
By Calico Jack and his heathenish breed
My leg it was wounded, my blood nearly gone
If not for my fiddle, they'd have tossed me to drown

Now Calico Jack, though a pirate most feared
Was haunted by demons, tormented by dreams
A use for this cripple with fiddle had he
Every night I must play for to calm his rough sleep

"If the notes you play, boy, are like waves on the shore
Your life and your freedom, I'll grant you once more
But if they be tired, lacklustre or cold
Like vermin I'll soon have you tossed overboard"

I played on the ships and I played in the ports
And I played for the pennies, played for the sport
And I played for my life, played for my drink
Now I play just to help myself think

Now seven nights passed, in his cabin I played
And my jigs and my reels kept his demons at bay
Seven weeks passed where I shook with the fear
He would find I was not what I first had appeared

Seven months passed and my life still my own
"Boy, your music's too sweet for a lad so young"
Seven long months I had played with my all
"Boy, your face is yet smooth, your fingers so small"

How long could I hide from his scrutiny keen?
Still each night he would soften and slip to his dreams
So one murky night in his deepest blue sleep
It was into the shadows I surely did creep

And silently did I let down my long hair
I put on his cloak and I stood on his chair
I snuffed out his candle and in his moonlight
I did croon an old song of a mother's plight

He awoke with a start and a cry of surprise
I sang "hush oh my son, close your eyes
Has your fiddler not played every night this long year?
And now he has summoned my good spirit here"

I played on the ships and I played in the ports
And I played for the pennies, played for the sport
And I played for my life, played for my drink
Now I play just to help myself think

When morning came Calico Jack did awake
He had me brought to him, this he did say:
"Boy, you've played every night this long year just for me
May your music flow ever across the high seas"

I sailed with the ships ten year upon ten
They never did know I was not of the men
But Calico Jack, in his nightly dreams
Conjures a woman he thinks he has seen


Maria Dunn vocal
Shannon Johnson violin
Simon Marion acoustic guitars
Jeremiah McDade flute
Solon McDade upright bass