Note
This is slight revision of the traditional lyrics. See: inclusive revisionism
It’s a damn tough life, full of toil and strife, we sailors undergo
And we don’t give a damn when the gale is done how hard the winds did blow
’Cause we’re homeward bound from the Arctic ground on a good ship taut and free
And we won’t give a damn when we drink our rum with our loves in Old Maui
CHORUS:
Rolling down to Old Maui, my friends, rolling down to Old Maui
We’re homeward bound from the Arctic ground, rolling down to Old Maui
Once more we sail with a northerly gale, through the ice, the wind, and rain
Those coconut fronds, those tropical lands, we soon shall see again
Six hellish months we have passed away on the cold Kamchatka sea
But now we’re bound from the Arctic ground, rolling down to Old Maui
CHORUS
Once more we sail with a northerly gale towards our island home
Our main mast sprung, our work all done, and we ain’t got far to roam
Our stuns’l bones 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 through the island trees, now the ice is far astern
Our husbands and wives, our children, our lives, are awaiting our return
Even now their hopeful eyes look out, that they might one fine day see
Our baggy sails running ‘fore the gales, rolling down to Old Maui
CHORUS