A number of readers have expressed interest in the sea chanty Kate sings in Dead in the Water. The last time someone asked I promised to post the lyrics, so here goes:
Rolling Down to Old Maui
‘Tis a damn tough life full of toil and strife
We whalemen undergo
And we don’t give a damn when the gale is done
How hard the wind did blow
Now we’re homeward bound, ’tis a grand old sound
On a good ship taut and free
And we won’t give a damn when we drink our rum
With the girls of old Maui
Chorus
Rolling down to old Maui, my boys
Rolling down to old Maui
Now we’re homeward bound from the Arctic round
Rolling down to old Maui
Once more we sail with a northerly gale
Through the ice and wind and rain
And them coconut fronds and them tropical lands
We soon shall see again
Six hellish months have passed away
In the cold Kamschatka Sea
But now we’re bound from the Arctic round
Rolling down from old Maui
Chorus
Once more we sail with a northerly gale
Toward our island home
Our main is sprung and our whaling done
And we ain’t got far to roam
Our stunsul boom is carried away
What care we for that sound
A living gale is after us
Thank God we’re homeward bound
Chorus
How soft the breeze from the island trees
Now the ice is far astern
And them native maids in them island glades
Is a-waiting our return
Even now their big black eyes look out
Hoping some fine day to see
Our baggy sails running ‘fore the gales
Rolling down to old Maui
Chorus (twice)
And here’s a couple more of my favorites for you, too.
Strike the Bell
The starboard watch is hoping the bell will be struck so that the port watch will have to go aloft to reef in the sails before it begins to blow, but the officers aren’t listening.
Out on the quarter deck and walking about
There’s the second mate so steady and so stout
What he is a-thinking of he doesn’t know himself
We wish that he would hurry up and strike, strike the bell!
Chorus
Strike the bell, second mate, let us go below
Look well to windward you can see it’s going to blow
Look at the glass you can see that it has fell
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell!
Down on the main deck and working on the pumps
There’s the starboard watch longing for their bunks
Look out to windward and see a great swell
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell!
Chorus
Aft at the wheel poor Anderson stands
Grasping at the spokes with his cold mittened hands
Looks at the compass and the course is clear as hell
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell!
Chorus
Forward at the focsle head and keeping sharp lookout
Yonder John is standing ready for to shout
Lights are burning bright, sir, and everything is well
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell!
Chorus
Out on the poop deck the gallant captain stands
Looking out to sea with a spyglass in his hands
What he is a thinking of we know very well
He’s thinking more of shortening sail than striking the bell!
Chorus (twice)
Blow Ye Winds
This is the shortened version the Kingston Trio recorded. There are others that go on forever, or three years, the standard whaler’s voyage, whichever came first.
‘Tis advertised in Boston, New York and Buffalo
A hundred hearty sailors a-whaling for to go
Chorus
Blow ye winds in the morning
Blow ye winds aye-oh
Haul away your running gear
And blow boys blow
They tell of the clipper ships
a-running in and out
They say you’ll take five hundred whales
before you’re six months out
Chorus
The skipper’s on the after deck
a-squinting at the sails
When up above the lookout spots
a mighty school of whales
Chorus
Then lower down the boats, my boys,
and after him we’ll travel
But if you get too near his tail
he’ll kick you to the devil
Chorus
And now that he is ours, my boys,
we’ll bring him alongside
And over with our blubber hooks
and rob of his hide
Chorus
When we get home, our ship made fast,
and we get through our sailing
A brimming glass around we’ll pass
and hang this blubber whaling
Chorus
And here’s why most of us ever even heard of sea chanties, if we knew what they were called or not:
