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   Well, 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 floggers down   Oh, I'll give the land a little shock   Remember what I say   They'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones   In chains to Botany Bay