Rolling Down to Old Maui Lyrics

About this song

"Rolling Down to Old Maui" is a forecastle song — sung during leisure time rather than while working — associated with the Pacific whaling industry. Maui served as the principal provisioning port for the American whaling fleet. The song describes the homeward passage from the Arctic whaling grounds: the crew have survived "the frozen Arctic seas" and are heading for the warmth and rest of Maui. By old sailor's convention, songs about returning home were sung only on the homeward leg — singing it outward-bound would have been considered bad luck.

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Lyrics

Forecastle song (sea song)

It's a damn tough life, full of toil and strife,
We whalermen undergo.
And we don't give a damn when the gale is done,
How hard the winds did blow.
For we're homeward bound from the Arctic ground,
With a good ship taut and free,
And we won't give a damn when we drink our rum,
With the girls of Old Maui.

Rolling down to Old Maui, me boys,
Rolling down to Old Maui.
We're homeward bound from the Arctic ground,
Rolling down to Old Maui.

Once more we sail with a favoring gale
Toward our Island home,
Our mainmast sprung, our whaling done,
And we don't care if we roam.
Our captain stands on the quarter deck
And a jolly good fellow is he,
Sing port your helm, let the whale go free,
We're bound for Old Maui.

We've sailed on the Arctic seas of ice
And the Bering Sea so cold,
And now we're bound for a warmer clime
With our stories to be told.
The anchor's weighed and the sails are set
And the land is far astern,
And for Old Maui we're homeward bound
And we'll never more return.

Related shanties

Shenandoah — windlass shanty with similar longing
Leave Her, Johnny — ceremonial farewell shanty
Wellerman — Pacific whaling ballad
Rio Grande — homeward-bound capstan shanty