The Levellers - The Boatman

If I could choose the life I please,
Then I would be a boatman.
On the canals and the rivers free,
No hasty words are spoken.
My only law the river breeze,
That takes me to the open seas.
If I could choose the life I please,
Then I would be a boatman.

If I could choose the life I please,
Then I would be a rover.
And if the road was not for me,
Then I would choose another.
Cross mountains and valleys deep,
Where I would take these weary feet.
If I could choose the life I please,
Then I would be a rover.

But these things they're so hard for me,
I cannot choose my own destiny.
And all the things that I want to see,
Are so unclean.

Well I wish I could choose the life I please,
I am not a free man.
Others rule my destiny,
But my will is never broken.
I know someday I will be,
Everything that I dreamed I'd be.
And when I live the life I please,
Then I will be a freeman.

I know someday I will be,
Everything that I dreamed I'd be.
And when I live the life I please,
Then I will be a freeman.

And when I live the life I please,
Then I will be a freeman.