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The Greenland Whale Fisheries

from A Life Spent Staring At Chairs by Paul Carbuncle

/

lyrics

’Twas in 1841
And of June the thirteenth day
When our gallant ship her anchor aweighed
And to Greenland bore away,
Brave boys, to Greenland bore away.

Oh the look-out in the cross-tree stood
With a spy-glass in his hand
“There’s a whale, there’s a whale, there’s a whalefish” he cried,
“She blows on every strand,
Brave boys, she blows on every strand”.

The captain stood on the quarter-deck
With his eyes to the icy sea:
“Overhaul, overhaul, let your davit-tackles fall,
Till you land your boats in the sea,
Brave boys, till you land your boats in the sea”.

Oh the boats were launched and the men aboard
And the whale was in full view.
Resolved was each seaman bold
To steer where the whale fish blew,
Brave boys, to steer where the whale fish blew.

Well we struck the whale and the line played out,
But she gave a flourish with her tail
And the boat capsized and four men were drowned
And we never caught that whale,
Brave boys, no we never caught that whale.

“To lose the men” the captain cried,
“Well it grieves my heart full sore
But oh to lose a hundred-barrel whale
Well it grieves me ten times more,
Brave boys, it grieves me ten times more”.

“The wintry star doth now appear
So boys let’s anchor aweigh,
'Tis time to leave this cold country
And homeward bear away,
Brave boys, and homeward bear away”.

Oh Greenland is a dreadful place
A land that's never green,
Where there’s ice and snow and the whalefishes blow
And the daylight’s seldom seen,
Brave boys, the daylight’s seldom seen.

credits

from A Life Spent Staring At Chairs, released April 9, 2018
Traditional song, arranged by Paul Carbuncle.

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Paul Carbuncle Nottingham, UK

You can take the lad out of Pluckley but he'll still sing about hops.

Profile photo by Hugh Miller.

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