Blood Red Roses Lyrics

Lyric discussion by sillybunny 

Cover art for Blood Red Roses lyrics by Sting

There are girls in forty seaports And they all wait for you Wait for Johnny Chanteyman And his all singin’ crew

But they’d better deck their bosoms With bright ribbons gay And forget about those other sailors Singin’ down the way

Now the hungry seas are breakin’ With an angry little roar And there’s black squalls a’blowin’ Pipin’ past a coral shore

There’s a clipper lying broken In quite a few odd parts He said, lady, get some other guy To play yer dumb part-heart

Tain’t no use to love a sailor Tain’t no use to wait the day For yer Johnnie’s chanteys are Cheerily ringin’ down along the bay

Tain’t no use to listen, baby For this seaman’s love Just happens to be somethin’ No one gets possession of

Bill Adams—Johnny Chanteyman [paraphrased]