Harbour Le Cou is located not dar East of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. I probably learned this song from a Newfoundlander that joined us in the Schooner Alice S. Wenworth for a couple of weeks, but my memory is hazy about this. (GB)
As I rowed ashore from my schooner close by,
A girl on the beach I chanced to espy;
Her hair it was red and her bonnet was blue;
Her place of abode was Harbour Le Cou.
O boldly I asked her to talk on the sand,
She smiled like an angel and held out her hand;
So I buttoned me Guernsey and hove me way chew
In the dark rolling waters of Harbor Le Cou.
My ship she lay anchored far out on the tide,
As I strolled along with the maid at my side;
I told her I loved her; she said, “I’ll be true,”
As I winked at the moon over Harbour Le Cou.
As we walked on the sands at the close of the day,
I thought of my wife who was home in Torbay;
I knew that she’d kill me if she only knew
I was courting a lassie in Harbour Le Cou.
As we passed a log cabin that stood on the shore,
I met an old comrade I’d sailed with before,
He treated me kindly, saying, “Jack, how are you?”
“It’s seldom I see you in Harbour Le Cou.”
And as I was parting, this maiden in tow,
He broke up my party with one single blow,
Saying, “Regards to your missus and wee kiddies two,
I remember her well, she’s from Harbour Le Cou.”
I looked at this damsel a-standing ‘long side,
Her jaw it dropped, and her mouth opened wide;
And then like a she-cat upon me she flew,
And I fled from the furies of Harbour Le Cou.
Come all you young sailors who walk on the shore,
Beware of old comrades you’d sailed with before;
Beware of the maiden with bonnet of blue,
And the pretty young damsels of Harbour Le Cou.