Come and listen for a moment, lads
  And hear me tell my tale
  How across the sea from England
  I was condemned to sail
  Now the jury found me guilty
  Then says the judge, says he
  "Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm sending you
  Across the stormy sea
  But take a tip before you ship
  To join the iron gang
  Don't get too gay in Botany Bay
  Or else you'll surely hang
  Or else you'll surely hang", says he
  "And after that Jim Jones
  It's high above on the gallows tree
  The crows will pick your bones".
    And our ship was high upon the sea
  When pirates came along
  But the soldiers on our convict ship
  Were full five hundred strong
  For they opened fire and somehow drove
  That pirate ship away
  But I'd rather have joined that pirate ship
  Than gone to Botany Bay
  With the storms ragin' round us
  And the winds a-blowin' gale
  I'd rather have drowned in misery
  Than gone to New South Wales
  There's no time for mischief there they say
  Remember that, says they
  Or they'll flog the poaching out of you
  Down there in Botany Bay.
    Now it's day and night and the irons clang
  And like poor galley slaves
  We toil and toil, and when we die
  Must fill dishonored graves
  And it's by and by I'll slip my chains
  Well, into the bush I'll go
  And I'll join the bravest rankers there
  Jack Donohue and co
  And some dark night, when everything
  Is silent in the town
  I'll shoot those tyrants one and all
  I'll gun the floggers down
  Oh, I'll give the land a little shock
  Remember what I say
  They'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones
  In chains to Botany Bay.