From Brooks' second set of glees, printed in London and Bath, c.1798. An arrangement of a popular song, showing Jack Tar in a more philosophical mood than he had been at the Nore in the previous year. The third verse has been imported editorially.

Lyrics: Anon

Life is chequered: toil and pleasure
Fill up all the various measure.
See the crew in flannel jerkins
Drinking, toping flip by firkins;
And as they raise the tip
To their happy lip,
On the deck is heard no other sound
But prithee, Jack, prithee, Dick,
Prithee, Sam, prithee, Tom,
Let the can go round.
Then hark to the boatswain's whistle.
Bustle my boys, let us stir, let us toil,
But let's drink all the while,
For labour's the price of our joy.

Life is chequered: toil and pleasure
Fill up all the various measure.
Hark, the crew with sunburnt faces,
Chanting Black-eyed Susan's graces;
And, as they raise their notes
Through their rusty throats,
On the deck is heard no other sound
But prithee, Jack, prithee, Dick,
Prithee, Sam, prithee, Tom,
Let the can go round.
Then hark to the boatswain's whistle.
Bustle my boys, let us stir, let us toil,
But let's drink all the while,
For labour's the price of our joy.

Life is chequered: toil and pleasure
Fill up all the various measure.
Hark the crew, their cares discarding
With hustle-cap or with chuck-farthing;
Still in a merry pin,
let them lose or win,
On the deck is heard no other sound
But prithee, Jack, prithee, Dick,
Prithee, Sam, prithee, Tom,
Let the can go round.
Then hark to the boatswain's whistle.
Bustle my boys, let us stir, let us toil,
But let's drink all the while,
For labour's the price of our joy.