Rolling down to Old Maui
~Traditional
Once more we sail with a favoring gale
A-bounding o’er the main
And soon the hills of the tropic clime
Will be in view again
Six sluggish months have passed away
Since from your shores sailed we
But now we’re bound from the Arctic ground
Rolling down to old Maui
Rolling down to old Maui, my boys
Rolling down to old Maui
But now we’re bound from the Arctic ground
Rolling down to old Maui
We will heave our lead where old Diamond Head
Looms up on old Oahu
Our masts and rigging are covered with ice
Our decks are filled with snow
The hoary head of the Sea Gull Isles
That decks the Arctic Sea
Are many and many leagues astern
Since we steered for old Maui
Oh welcome the seas and the fragrant breeze
Laden with odors rare
And the pretty maids in the sunny glades
Who are gentle, kind and fair
And their pretty eyes even now look out
Hoping some day to see
Our snow-white sails before the gales
Rolling down to old Maui
Once more we sail with a favoring gale
Toward our distant home
Our mainmast sprung, we’re almost done
Still we ride the ocean’s foam
Our stun’s’ls booms are carried away
What care we for that sound
A living gale is after us
Hurrah, we’re homeward bound
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"Rolling Down to Old Maui" (or Mohee) (Roud 2005) is a traditional sea song. It expresses the anticipation of the crew of a whaling vessel of its return to Maui after a season of whaling in the Kamchatka Sea.[1]
Origin
Although the words have been found in records going back to the mid 19th century, there is some dispute about the accuracy and provenance of the melody. The words of "Rolling Down to Old Mohee" have been found in a copybook of a sailor called George Piper, who was on a whaling ship between 1866 and 1872.[2] Similar lyrics were recorded by Joanna Colcord in her collection Roll and Go, Songs of American Sailormen in 1924, where she stated that the melody had been forgotten.[3] She included additional details in the 1938 edition of her book, titled simply Songs of American Sailormen.[4]
Other references point to a version recorded in the journal of the whaling ship Atkins Adams from 1855.[5]
The tune most commonly associated with the song in modern recordings resembles that of the popular 18th-century song "Miller of Dee" but it is unknown what tune was actually associated with the words historically, as only the words were preserved.[citation needed]
Lyrics
It's a damn tough life full of toil and strife
We whalermen undergo.
And we don't give a damn when the day is done/gale has stopped
How hard the winds did blow.
'cause we're homeward bound from the Arctic ground/tis a grand ol' sound
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.
(Chorus)
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 northerly gale
Towards our island home.
Our mainmast sprung, our whaling done,
And we ain't got far to roam.
Six hellish months 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
Through the ice and wind and rain.
Them coconut fronds, them tropical lands
We soon shall see again.
Our stu'n's'l bones/booms 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.
Them native maids, them tropical glades
Is a-waiting our return.
Even now their big brown eyes look out
Hoping some fine day to see
Our baggy sails runnin' 'fore the gales
Rolling down to old Maui.
Chorus
We'll heave the lead where old Diamond Head
Looms up on old Wahu.
Our masts and yards are sheathed with ice
And our decks are hid from view.
The horrid ice of the sea-caked isles
That deck the Arctic sea
Are miles behind in the frozen wind
Since we steered for Old Maui.
Chorus
(The following verse is seen in some collections and performances of the song, but is not universal:)
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.
Chorus
Versions
As it is a folk song, it has been performed and recorded by several singers and bands including The Dreadnoughts, David Coffin, Kimber's Men, Todd Rundgren, Don Sineti, Stan Rogers, The Longest Johns, and Jon Boden. Its melody has also been used, in its entirety as well as in part, as the basis for many other folk songs and song parodies, such as "The Light-Ship" by Leslie Fish and "Falling Down on New Jersey" by Mitchell Burnside-Clapp.
Canadian folk singer Brian Robertson has recorded an alternate version entitled "Old Maui (from the Whales' Point of View)" on his album Saltchuck Serenade.[6] Oli Steadman included it on his song collection "365 Days Of Folk".[7]
"Rolling Down to Old Maui" was recorded by the American quintet Bounding Main and release on their 2005 album Maiden Voyage.[8]
References
- ^ Whales, Ice, and Men (Bockstoce, 1995, p. 45).
- ^ James Revell Carr (2014). Hawaiian Music in Motion: Mariners, Missionaries, and Minstrels. Music in American Life. Urbana, Ill.; Chicago: University of Illinois Press. pp. 81–. ISBN 978-0-252-09652-5. OCLC 894511210.
- ^ Colcord, Joanna C. (1924). Roll and Go, Songs of American Sailormen. Indianapolis, IN: The Bobbs-Merrill Company. pp. 106–108. OCLC 19934915.
- ^ Colcord, Joanna C. (1938). Songs of American Sailormen (2nd ed.). New York: W. W. Norton. pp. 197–200. OCLC 946498851.
- ^ Huntington, Gale (1970). Songs the Whalemen Sang (2nd ed.). New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 9780486221694.
- ^ "Maui Whales". 21 June 2016 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "365 Days Of Folk: Song List". Retrieved 24 January 2026.
- ^ Rolling Down to Old Maui (28 September 2019). "Bounding Main". Bounding Main. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
Further reading
- Nelson-Burn, Lesley, "Rolling Down to Old Maui", Folk Music, Contemplator, retrieved 12 June 2006.
- Oak Ash & Thorn, archived from the original on 27 May 2006, retrieved 12 June 2006.
External links
Rolling Down to Old Maui
[ Roud 2005 ; Ballad Index SWMS027 ; trad.]
This is a song about the ca. 1850 Kamchatka bowhead whale and Pacific sperm whale fishing. Gale Huntington in his book Songs the Whalemen Sang gives a version called Rolling Down to Old Mohee from a journal made aboard the Atkins Adams in 1858.
A.L. Lloyd, Trevor Lucas and Martyn Wyndham-Read sang two verses of Rolling Down to Old Maui on their album Leviathan! Ballads and Songs of the Whaling Trade. Lloyd commented in the album’s sleeve notes:
Maui is one of the Hawaiian islands. In the fifties and sixties, the Pacific whalers used to meet there, or in nearby Oahu, twice a year. In March they fitted out for the summer season in the Arctic, when they fished the bowhead grounds off Kamchatka and the Gulf on Anadyr. In November, when they were back again, to fit out for sperm-whaling in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Southern Seas. Hence this song, bidding farewell to the bitter North, and looking forward with a smile to the languors of the South.
Jeff Warner sang Rolling Down to Old Maui in 1976 on the Collector LP Steady As She Goes: Songs and Chanteys from the Days of Commercial Sail. The liner notes commented:
Stan Hugill of Liverpool says that as early as 1820 Maui, one of the Hawaiian Islands (then the Sandwich Islands), was considered “home” by the Yankee sailors who hunted the northern grounds or the Bering Straits for right and bowhead whales. This is an off-watch song, as distinct from a working song, of whalemen longing for the women and weather of better latitudes.
Stan Rogers sang Rolling Down to Old Maui in April 1979 live at The Groaning Board, Toronto. This concert was released in the same year on his albumBetween the Breaks… Live!. He commented in the liner notes:
Emily Friedman introduced this song to me in her hotel room at the Mariposa Folk Festival in 1978, and I’ve loved it ever since. It may very well be my favourite chorus song.
Jolly Jack recorded Rolling Down to Old Maui in 1983 as title track for their eponymous Fellside album. This was also included in 1999 on the same-named Fellside anthology CD Rolling Down to Old Maui. Paul Adams commented in the liner notes:
Our title track comes from Songs The Whalemen Sang by New Englander, Gale Huntington. Many young men working on the American whaling ships kept personal journals in which the recorded the voyage, made sketches, notes and copied their favourite songs. The words of this song were taken from such a journal made aboard the Atkins Adams in 1858. The noble tune is from Chantying Aboard American Ships by F.P. Harlow. Maui is one of the Hawaiian Islands and was a meeting place for whalers… something to look forward to between trips. A “homeward bound” feeling prevails after the arctic hunting season but it was likely that they were merely calling at Maui for “fitting out” for the further half year in the southern oceans.
Roy Harris sang Rolling Down to Old Maui in 1985 on his Fellside album Utter Simplicity.
John Spiers and Jon Boden recorded Old Maui in 2005 for their album Songs and again in 2010/11 for their CD The Works. Jon Boden also sang it as the August 23, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. They commented in their former CD’s liner notes:
A well known rowdy sea-song. This version comes from Songs the Whalemen Sang by Gale Huntington and is taken from the log-book of the American ship Atkins Adams from the year 1858. This is a rather sentimental and self-consciously literary version of the song, presumably collected before the aural tradition had had time to work its rough magic. Normally this would be “A Bad Thing” but we rather like it this way.
This video shows them at the Gosport and Fareham Festival on the Easter weekend in 2008:
Lyrics
Rolling Down to Old Mohee from the journal of the Atkins Adams, 1858
Once more we are waft by the northern gales bounding over the main
And now the hills of the tropic isles we soon shall see again
Five sluggish moons have waxed and waned since from the shore sailed we
𝄆 Now we are bound from the Arctic ground, rolling down to old Mohee 𝄇
Through many a blow of frost and snow and bitter squalls of hail
Our spars were bent and our canvas rent as we braved the northern gale
The horrid isles of ice cut tiles that deck the Arctic sea
𝄆 Are many, many leagues astern as we sail to old Mohee 𝄇
Through many a gale of snow and hail our good ship bore away
And in the midst of the moonbeam’s kiss we slept in St. Lawrence Bay
And many a day we whiled away in the bold Kamchatka Sea
𝄆 And we’ll think of that as we laugh and chat with the girls of old Mohee 𝄇
An ample share of toil and care we whalemen undergo
But when it’s over what care we how the bitter blast may blow
We are homeward bound that joyful sound and yet it may not be
𝄆 But we’ll think of that as we laugh and chat with the girls of old Mohee 𝄇
A.L. Lloyd, Trevor Lucas and Martyn Wyndham-Read sing Rolling Down to Old Maui
It’s an ample share of toil and care we whaleman undergo,
Through many a blow of frost and hail and bitter squalls of snow,
The horrid isles of ice cut tiles that deck the Polar sea.
But now we’re bound from the Arctic ground, rolling down to old Maui.
Once more we’re blown by the northern gales, and bounding o’er the main;
And the green hills of them tropical isles we soon shall see again.
Oh, it’s many a day we toiled away in that cold Kamchatka Sea,
And we’ll think of that as we laugh and chat with the girls of old Maui.
Jeff Warner sings Rolling Down to Old Maui
It’s a damn tough life full of toil and strife we whalemen undergo,
We don’t give a damn when the gale is done how hard the winds did blow.
We’re homeward bound, ’tis a grand ol’ sound with a good ship taut and free,
We don’t give a damn when we drink our rum with the girls of old Maui.
- Chorus (after each verse):
- 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 Northerly gale through the ice, and wind, and rain,
And them coconut fronds and them tropical lands we soon shall see again.
Six hellish months have passed away in the cold Kamchatka sea
But now we’re bound from the Arctic ground rolling down to old Maui.
Once more we sail with the Northerly gale towards our Island home,
Our mainmast sprung and our whaling done and we ain’t got far to roam.
Our stans’l booms is carried away, what care we for that sound,
A living gale is after us, thank God we’re homeward bound
How soft the breeze from the island trees now the ice is far astern,
And them native maids and them island glades is 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.
Spiers & Boden sing Rolling Down to Old Maui
Once more we are waft by the northern gales a-bounding over the main
And soon the hills of the tropic isles we all shall see again;
Five sluggish moons have waxed and waned since from the shore sailed we
And now we are bound from the Arctic ground, rolling down to old Maui.
Through many a gale of frost and hail our big ship bore away
And in the midst of a moonbeam’s kiss we slept at St. Lawrence Bay;
And many is the day we whiled away on the bold Kamchatka Sea
But now we are bound from the Arctic ground, rolling down to old Maui.
- Chorus (after each verse):
- 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
Through many a blow of frost and snow and bitter squalls of hail
Our spars were bent and our canvas rent as we braved the northern gale.
The cruel isles of ice-capped tiles that deck the Arctic sea
Are many, many leagues astern as we sail to old Maui.
An ample share of toil and care we whalemen undergo,
But when it’s over, what care we how the bitter the blast may blow?
We’re homeward bound, that joyful sound across the Arctic sea,
We’re homeward bound from the Arctic ground, rolling down to old Maui.
Acknowledgements and Links
A.L. Lloyd’s lyrics were taken from the Leviathan! sleeve notes.
See also the Mudcat Café track Lyr Req: Rollin’ Down to Old Maui.
One of the best versions by Stan Rogers and crew…
Another great version by Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag…
https://youtu.be/cAWRwdeonR0
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