"High Barbaree" is an English ballad. An earlier version is included in Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads as "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake" (#285) that dates back to 1595. The term Barbary Coast or High Barbaree was used by Europeans from the 16th century to the early 19th century to refer to the coastal regions of North Africa, specifically the modern nations of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The name derives from the Berber people who populated the region. Hugill states that this minor mode melody was a "forebitter", a song sung by sailors while off shift. Different tunes were used for these lyrics for chanty jobs. It was recorded by Peter Bellamy on Both Sides Then (1979), Bob Robert on Folk Song Today (anthology, 1955). It is included in the Roud Folk Song Index as #134. It was printed in Ives' Burl Ives Songbook (1953), Hugel's Shanties from the Seven Seas (1994) and Shay's Iron Men & Wooden Ships (1924).