When Frederic Was a Little Lad Lyrics > Pirates of Penzance, The
When Frederic Was a Little Lad Lyrics
When Frederic was a little lad
He proved so brave and daring,
His father thought he'd 'prentice him
To some career seafaring.
I was, alas! his nurserymaid,
And so it fell to my lot
To take and bind the promising boy
Apprentice to a pilot.
A life not bad for a hardy lad,
Though surely not a high lot,
Though I'm a nurse, you might do worse
Than make your boy a pilot.
I was a stupid nurserymaid,
On breakers always steering,
And I did not catch the word aright,
Through being hard of hearing;
Mistaking my instructions,
Which within my brain did gyrate,
I took and bound this promising boy
Apprentice to a pirate.
A sad mistake it was to make
And doom him to a vile lot.
I bound him to a pirate ? you!
Instead of to a pilot.
I soon found out, beyond all doubt,
The scope of this disaster,
But I hadn't the face to return to my place,
And break it to my master.
A nurserymaid is not afraid
Of what you people call work,
So I made up my mind to go as a kind
Of piratical maid-of-all-work.
And that is how you find me now,
A member of this shy lot,
Which you wouldn't have found, had he been bound
Apprentice to a pilot.
Last Update: August, 17th 2016
Pirates of Penzance, The Lyrics
- Act 1
- Pour, O Pour the Pirate Sherry
- When Frederic Was a Little Lad
- Oh, Better Far to Live and Die
- Oh! False One, You Have Deceived Me
- Climbing over Rocky Mountain
- Stop, Ladies, Pray!
- Oh Is There Not One Maiden Breast?
- Poor Wandering One
- What Ought We to Do?
- How Beautifully Blue the Sky
- Stay, We Must Not Lose Our Senses
- Hold, Monsters!
- I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General
- Finale Act I
- Act 2
- Oh, Dry the Glistening Tear
- Now, Frederic, Let Your Escort Lion-Hearted When the Foeman Bares His Steel
- Now for the Pirates' Lair!
- When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold
- Away, Away! My Heart's on Fire
- All Is Prepared / Stay, Frederic, Stay!
- No, I'll be brave
- When a Felon's Not Engaged in His Employment
- A Rollicking Ban of Pirates We
- With Cat-Like Tread
- Hush, Hush! Not a Word / Sighing Softly to the River
- Finale