by William Allingham (1824 - 1889)
Head the ship for England!
Language: English
Head the ship for England! Shake out every sail! Blithe leap the billows, Merry sings the gale. Captain, work the reckoning; How many knots a day? — Round the world and home again, That's the sailor's way! We've traded with the Yankees, Brazilians and Chinese; We've laughed with dusky beauties In shade of tall palm-trees; Across the line and Gulf-Stream — Round by Table Bay — Everywhere and home again, That's the sailor's way! Nightly stands the North Star Higher on our bow; Straight we run for England; Our thoughts are in it now. Jolly times with friends ashore, When we've drawn our pay! — All about and home again, That's the sailor's way! Tom will to his parents, Jack will to his dear, Joe to wife and children, Bob to pipes and beer; Dicky to the dancing-room, To hear the fiddles play; — Round the world and home again, That's the sailor's way!
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Authorship:
- by William Allingham (1824 - 1889), "Homeward bound", appears in Day and Night Songs, first published 1884 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Alec Rowley (1892 - 1958), "Sailing home", published 1952. [SATB chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-08-10
Line count: 32
Word count: 154