Come and listen for a moment, lads

And hear me tell my tale

How across the sea from England

I was condemned to sail

Now the jury found me guilty

Then says the judge, says he

"Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm sending you

Across the stormy sea

But take a tip before you ship

To join the iron gang

Don't get too gay in Botany Bay

Or else you'll surely hang

Or else you'll surely hang," says he

"And after that, Jim Jones

It's high above on the gallows tree

The crows will pick your bones" And our ship was high upon the sea

When pirates came along

But the soldiers on our convict ship

Were full five hundred strong

For they opened fire and somehow drove

That pirate ship away

But I'd rather have joined that pirate ship

Than gone to Botany Bay

With the storms ragin' round us

And the winds a-blowin' gale

I'd rather have drowned in misery

Than gone to New South Wales

There's no time for mischief there they say

Remember that, says they

Or they'll flog the poaching out of you

Down there in Botany Bay Now it's day and night and the irons clang

And like poor galley slaves

We toil and toil, and when we die

Must fill dishonored graves

And it's by and by I'll slip my chains

Into the bush I'll go

And I'll join the bravest rankers there

Jack Donohue and co

And some dark night, when everything

Is silent in the town

I'll shoot those tyrants one and all

I'll gun the flogger down

Oh, I'll give the land a little shock

Remember what I say

And they'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones

In chains to Botany Bay