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
How hard the winds did blow
Cause we're homeward bound from the arctic ground
With a good ship, taut and free
And we don'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 northerly gale
Towards our island home
Our mainmast sprung, our whaling done,
And we ain't go far to roam
Six hellish months we passed away
On the cold kamchatka sea,
But now we're bound from the arctic ground
Rolling down to 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 northerly gale
Through the ice and wind and rain
Them coconut fronds, them tropical lands,
We soon shall see again
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
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
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.
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.
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.