PAY ME MY MONEY DOWN

Here is a song we sing in class. I hope you like it! The G (sol) and D (re) are just suggested chords. It is quite simple.

[G]  I thought I heard the Captain say,
Pay me my [D] money down,
Tomorrow is our sailing day,
Pay me my [G] money down

[G] Oh pay me, oh pay me,
Pay me my [D] money down,
Pay me or go to jail,
Pay me my [G] money down
The very next day we cross the bar,
Pay me my money down,
He knocked me down with an iron spar,
Pay me my money down
I wish I was Mr Howard’s son,
Pay me my money down,
I’d sit on the fence and watch work done,
Pay me my money down

I wish I was Mr Jackson’s son,

Pay me my money down,
I’d sit in the house and drink good rum,
Pay me my money down

(This is a work song from the Georgia Sea Islands. The slaves there lived in isolation from the culture of the Southern United States and retained much of their West and Central African heritage. Even today, they speak an English-based creole language containing many African words and using similar grammar and sentence structure to those of African languages.)