The Colours

I am a member of the council of the naval mutiny And no traitor to my conscience having done my sworn duty These are my last words before the scaffold and I charge you all to hear How a wretched British sailor became a citizen mutineer Pressed into service to carry powder I was loyal to the crack of the whip It I starved on the streets of Bristol, I starved worse on a British ship Red is the colour of the new republic Blue is the colour of the sea White is the colour of my innocence Not surrender to your mercy I was woken from my misery by the words of Thomas Paine On my barren soil they fell like the sweetest drops of rain Red is the colour of the new republic Blue is the colour of the sea While is the colour of my innocence Not surrender to your mercy So in the spring of the year we took the fleet Every cask and cannon and compass sheet And we flew a Jacobean flag to give us heart While Pitt stood helpless we were waiting for Bonaparte Red is the colour of the new republic Blue is the colour of the sea White is the colour of my innocence Not surrender to your mercy All you soldiers, all you sailors, all you labourers of the land All you beggars, all you builders, all you come here to watch me hang To the masters we are the rabble, we are the 'swinish multitude' But we can re-arrange the colours of the red and the white and the blue Red is the colour of the new republic Blue is the colour of the sea White is the colour of my innocence Not surrender to your mercy Red is the colour of the new republic Blue is the colour of the sea White is the colour of my innocence Not surrender to your mercy