elanya

Mom sent me a package, and today it arrived :D It contained mostly clothes that I'd wanted, but also some scissors, and my tiara (shiny pretty ooooooh). Thanks :D I carried it home down bridgeport, aharr. She made a handle out of tape, how very thoughtful ^-^

I went to the gym first, where I did a half hour run and watched half an episode of the A-Team with no sound or subtitles. Why don't they close-caption the A-Team? Deaf people want to hear about that infamous crack commando team too, I expect :o I also did weights again, wooh! Apart from all of the above, I'm hoping that Jason can fix our (Mine and Joel's) computer. Apart from the standard issues that have never been resolved, it was running really slow. Jason ran adaware on Joel's side, though, and that will hopefully help. Apparently winXP won't let adaware look at the whole computer, only at the 'side' of the user who is running it. LAME. Anyway, he is hoping to be able to fix it with some Norton utility, but that requires finding the right CD, which he has not yet been able to do. If that doens't work, then we back everything up, re-reinstall windows, but run 'f-disc' or something on it to make sure everything is really formatted and we are really starting clean.

Apart from that, my day has consisted of looking at and transcribing broadsides of pirate songs and playing an online game. Broadsides (or broadsheets), for the record, were basically big sheets of printed whatever... in this case song lyrics, but it could also be news, or, say, 'wanted' ads, or whatever, that were posted up in public places for general viewing. The historical equivalent of the various posters and crap that get stapled to telephone poles, I suppose. Anyway, some of them are quite cool, so I'm posting them here. Don't feel obliged to read them, though, if nineteeth century ballads about pirates aren't really your thing ^-^. I've tried to include the date of when these were circulated, where it is known. I could have included things like city of publication, but since I'm interested in the words, not the actual broadsides, it didn't seem important. Some of them (well, one of them) had notes with them, which I also copied. Mostly for publicity, I think. I have kept the punctuation and spelling the same as they were on the broadsheets, except where it would be confusing (They use 'the' for 'thee' sometimes). Also, just as an interesting aside, there seems to be no pattern for the use of that weird 's' character they had back then. It was just a printing convention, I;ve never seen anyone *write* it. It looks like a cross between an 's' and an 'f'. Anyway, some of the broadsheets seemed to use both interchangably. In the same sentence, even. There isn't any distiction by using the fancy 's' for capital letters, or only at the start of a phrase or anything. No pattern at all. Maybe it was just a matter of what letters the printer had free to use, I dunno :o



The Pirate of the Isle

I command a sturdy band,
Of Pirates bold and free
No laws we own, my ship'd my throne
My kingdom is the sea;
My flag is red at the topmast head
On all my foes I smile
No quarter show, where'er I go
And soon we take the prize in tow.

My men are tried, my bark's my pride,
I'm the pirate of the isle, the pirate of the isle,
The pirate, the pirate, the pirate of the isle.

I love to sail with a plesant gale,
On the wild and boundless sea.
With a prize in view, we bring her too,
And follow in her lea;
We give three cheers, then homeward steers,
When fortune on us smiles,
And none yet cross'd the fam'd Le Ross,
But to my flag have struck of course.

(chorus)

Prous Gallia's sons, And Spanish dons,
With ardent zeal have burned,
Come o'er the sea to conquer me,
But never more returned;
And England too doth me pursue,
At all her threats I smile
Eight ships I've ta'en, their men I've slain,
Sunk and burnt them on the main.

(chorus)

But now in sight a ship of might,
A British seventy-four,
She hails La Ross and stops her course,
And in a broadside pours,
The Pirate soon returns the boom,
And proudly doth he smile,
Till a fatal ball, hath prov'd his downfall,
And loud his men for quarter call.

In the briny deep, there now doth sleep,
The pirate of the isle, the pirate of the isle,
The pirate, the pirate, the pirate of the isle.



The Pirate crew - c. 1797

O'er the wide world of water we roam ever free,
Sea Kings, and rovers, bold pirates are we,
We own no dominion what matter we sail,
Light hearted and true in the loud roaring gale,
We love the blue waters as we ride o'er the bollow,
The strong timber creeks, the mast shakes like a willow,
But fearless in danger we brave the mad foam,
Ever free on the deep the wide ocean our home.
hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Merry's the life of the bold pirate crew,
Dauntless and daring the deeds that we do,
Hurrah! The black banner is nailed to the mast,
Death to the foe as it waves in the blast.
"Crowd sail! A strange vessle is heaving in sight,
Should the pirate aloft, she is ours tonight,
Now we dash through the foam bearing down on the prize
No quarter we give to the stranger that flies,
Clear the deck, ever brave are the pirates in battle,
The strong timbers creek, the loud cannon rattle,
Now we board her in triumph, and bear her away,
Three cheers for the prize as we bound o'er the spray."



The Pirate's Bride - c. 1813-1838

Good Bye, my love, good bye, my bark is on the bay,
And I must gain Isle Hydra before the break of day,
Thee weep not tho' I go to peril o'er the main,
My blood-red flag ere long shall meet thy gaze again.

Hark! I hear the signal gun,
Day's bright orb its course has run,
List! I hear the signal gun
Fare-the-well my lovely one, ---
One kiss!---one kiss!---Goody bye!

Good bye, my love, etc...

The breeze is blowing fresh, the crew but wait for me,
And yonder like some wild bird my bark's white wings I see!
Ne'er whisper love of danger, dry up that timid tear,
Thou art a Pirate's Bride, and should not harbour fear.

Hark! I hear, etc...



The Pirate's Serenade - c. 1860

My boat's by the tower, my bark's in the bay,
And both must be gone ere the dawn of the day,
The moon's in her shroud, but to guide thee afar,
On the deck of the Daring's a love-lighted star;
Then wake, lady wake, - I am waiting for thee,
For this night, or never, my bride thou must be.

Forgive my rough mood, unaccustomed to sue,
I woo not perchance as your land lovers woo,
My voice has been tuned to the notes of the gun,
That startles the deep when the combat's begun,
And heavy and hard is the grasp of a hand
Whose glove has been ever the guard of the brand.
Then wake, lady wake, etc.

Yet think not of those, but this moment be mine,
And the plume of the proudest shall cower to thins,
A hundred shall serve thee, the best of the brave,
And the chief of a thousand, shall kneel as thy slave;
Thou shalt rule as a queen, and thy empire shall last
Till the red flag by inches is torn from the mast.
Then wake, lady wake, etc.

Oh, islands there are on the face of the deep,
Where the leaves never fade, and the skies never weep,
And there, if thou wilt, shall our bower, love, be
When we quit, for the green wood, our home on the sea
And there shalt thou sing of the deeds that were done
When we braved the last blast, and the last battle won.
Then wake, lady, wake, etc.

Then haste, lady, haste, for the fair breezes blow,
And my ocean bird poises her pinions of snow;
Now, fast, to the lettice these silken ropes twine,
They are meet for such feet and such fingers as thine;
The signal, my mates - ho! hurrah for the sea!
This night, and ever my bride thou shalt be.
The signal, etc.

ed. note: I would have gone with him;)

In gaming news, we are playing back-up exia tonight, since Hazel got called in to work. Only now she is back, and bored :/ Well, we need to get Val's part done at some point. I also like my indistinguishable backup knight. Arr. That be all.