Well there’s a keg stored down below,

What’s inside none of us know.

And the captain will not say,

It’s like a pirate holiday.



Chorus:

It could be grog it could be wine, 

It could be mead, wouldn’t that be fine. 

There’s just one thing we know is true, 

That keg sure won’t give us a clue. 

It could be rye or port or ale, 

It could be rancid, could be stale. 

It could be rum it could be stout, 

There’s only one way to find out 



The captain had it brought aboard,

Stolen from a ship where it was stored.

And now the crew must speculate,

‘Til the captain says “Let’s celebrate!” 



The captain says no one below,

So we wait on deck it’s quite a show.

We thump and shake and sneak and hide,

And try to guess just what’s inside.



Chorus



And still that keg just sits below,

While our excitement quickly grows.

All that night he let us stew,

Was it a scotch or a dark brew? 



The next morn he called us down,

And said now boys come gather round.

I think the time is finally here,

Is it full of whiskey or is it beer.



Chorus



But a tap we could not find,

How could fate be so unkind?

I’ve got an axe and I’ve a gun,

Oh come on captain let’s have some fun.



So steel shot flew and sabers bit,

But that barrel it wouldn’t split.

The gunner said “I’ll tap that cask,

With just a single cannon’s blast.”



Chorus



And to this day we don’t know why,

But the captain said, give it a try.

He missed the keg but breeched the hull,

We plugged the leak with that barrel.



The ship was fine and the keg held tight,

But we had a miserable crew that night.

We tarred it up so the ship’s leak free,

But its contents remain a mystery.



Chorus