Rolling Down to Old Maui

Notation: traditional
PDF Files: lyric song

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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush Print
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Lyrics:


It's a damned hard life, full of toil and strife
We whalermen undergo.
And we don't give a damn when the gale is done
How hard the wind did blow.
We're homeward bound! 'Tis a welcome 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 native maids in them island glades
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.
Chorus

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!
Chorus

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.
Their big black eyes even now look out
Hoping some fine day to see
Our baggy sails running 'fore the gales
Rolling down to old Maui.
Chorus

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