ROLLING DOWN TO OLD MAUI (Traditional)
It's a damned tough life, full of
toil and
strife
We
whalermen undergo.
And we don't give a damn when the
gale has stopped
How hard the
wind did blow.
We're
homeward bound! 'Tis a grand old sound
On a good ship
taut and free,
And we don't
give a damn when we drink our rum
With the girls on
old Maui.
chorus:
Rolling down to old
Maui, my boys,
Rolling down to old Maui.
We're homeward bound from the
arctic ground
Rolling home to old Maui.
Once more we sail with a
northerly gale
Through the
ice and
sleet and
rain.
And them
coconut fronds in them tropic lands
We soon shall see again.
Six
hellish months we've passed away
In the cold
Kamchatka sea,
And now we're bound from the arctic ground,
Rolling down to old Maui.
We'll heave the lead where old
Diamondhead
Looms up on old Wahoo.
Our mast and yards are
sheathed with ice
And our decks are hid from
view.
The horrid tiles of the sea-cut ice
That deck the Arctic Sea
Are miles behind in the
frozen wind
Since we steered for old Maui.
How soft the
breeze of the tropic seas
Now the ice is far
astern,
And them native
maids in them island glades
Are awaiting 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.
And now we sail with a
favoring gale
Towards our
island home.
Our
mainmast sprung, our
whaling done,
And we ain't got far to
roam.
Our stuns'l booms are carried away
What care we for that
sound?
A living gale is after us,
Thank God we're
homeward bound!
And now we're
anchored in the bay
With the Kanakas all around
With chants and soft
aloha oes
They greet us homeward bound.
And now
ashore we'll have good fun
We'll paint them beaches red
Awaking in the arms of a
wahine
With a big fat aching head.