Spanish Ladies Songtext
von The Men of the Robert Shaw Chorale

Farewell and adieu
To you Spanish Ladies
Farewell and adieu
To you ladies of Spain
For we′ve received orders
For to sail for Old England
But we hope in a short time
To see you again

We'll rant and we′ll roar
Like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar
Along the salt seas
Until we strike soundings
In the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly
Is thirty-five leagues


We hove our ship to
With the wind from sou′west, boys
We hove our ship to
Our soundings for to see
Then the signal was made
For the grand fleet to anchor
And all in the Downs
That night for to meet

We′ll rant and we'll roar
Like true British sailors
We′ll rant and we'll roar
Along the salt seas
Until we strike soundings
In the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly
Is thirty-five leagues

Now let every man
Toss off a full bumper
Now let every man
Toss off a full bowl
And we′ll drink and be merry
And drown melancholy
Singing, here's a good health
To all true-hearted souls


We′ll rant and we'll roar
Like true British sailors
We'll rant and we′ll roar
Along the salt seas
Until we strike soundings
In the Channel of Old England
From Ushant to Scilly
Is thirty-five leagues

Ushant - an island at the south-western end of the English Channel which marks the north-westernmost point of metropolitan France.
Isles of Scilly - an archipelago off the south-western tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain.
League - a rough measurement of about 3 miles, usually at sea
Hove - past tense of heave - to move a ship into a certain position or in a certain direction. Hove to - to stop the headway of a ship, halt.
Downs - the Downs is an area of sea in the Southern North Sea near the English Channel.

"Spanish Ladies" is the story of British navy men sailing north from Spain and along the English Channel. There is apparently a fog, as the crew are unable to determine their latitude by sighting. Instead, they console themselves with the sandy bottom they′ve sounded and the width of the entrance between the rocks of Ushant to the south and the Scillys to the north. This song was originally about English ships supplying Spain in their fight against 1700's revolutionary France.