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
'Cause 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 northerly gale
Through the ice and wind and rain
Them coconut fronds, them tropical lands
We soon shall see again
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
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
Our stu'n's'l booms is 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
