Intro: D G D A
verse 1
D G
Now gather round me sailor boys and listen to me plea,
D A
And when you hear me tale you’ll pity me
D G
For I was a goddamned fool in the port of Liverpool
D A D
The first time that I came home from sea
G D
I was paid off at the Home, from a voyage to Sierra Leone:
A
Two pounds ten and sixpence was me pay.
D G
With a pocket full of tin I was soon taken in
A D
By a girl with the name of Maggie May
G D
Oh, Maggie Maggie May they have taken her away
A
And she'll never walk down Lime Street any more.
D G
She robbed so many sailors and captains of the whalers
D A D
That dirty robbing no good Maggie May
verse 2
G D
Oh well do I remember when I first met Maggie May,
A
She was cruising up and down Old Canning Place,
D G
She'd a figure so divine, like a frigate of the line,
A D
And me being a sailor I gave chase.
G D
Next morning I awoke, I was flat and stoney broke,
A
No jacket, trousers, waistcoat could I find.
D G
When I asked her where they were, she said "Oh my dear sir,
A D
They're down in Kelly's, locker number nine!"
G D
Oh, Maggie Maggie May they have taken her away
A
And she'll never walk down Lime Street any more.
D G
She robbed so many sailors and captains of the whalers
D A D
That dirty robbing no good Maggie May
Optional Instrumental Chorus
verse 3
G D
To the pawnshop I did go but no clothes there did I find,
A
And the policeman came and took that girl away,
D G
The judge he guilty found her of robbing a homeward bounder,
A D
And paid her passage back to Botany Bay
G D
Oh, Maggie Maggie May they have taken her away
A
And she'll never walk down Lime Street any more.
D G
She robbed so many sailors and captains of the whalers
D A D
That dirty robbing no good Maggie May
(repeat Chorus to end)