They signed us with a whaling crew For the icy Greenland ground They said we'd take a shorter way While we was outward bound brave boys While we was outward bound Oh the lookout up in the barrel stood With a spygla** in his hand There's a whale there's a whale there's a whale he cried And she blows at every span brave boys And she blows at every span The captain stood on the quarter-deck And the ice was in his eye Overhaul overhaul let your davit tackles fall And put your boats to sea brave boys And put your boats to sea Well the boats got down and the men aboard And the whale was full in view Resolve resolve let these whaler men know To see where the whale fish blew brave boys
To see where the whale fish blew Well the harpoon struck, the line ran out The whale give a floody with his tail And he upset the boat, we lost half a dozen men No more, no more Greenland for you brave boys No more no more Greenland for you Bad news bad news the captain said And it grieved his heart full sore But the losing of that hundred pound whale Oh it grieved him ten times more brave boys Oh it grieved him ten times more Oh Greenland is a dreadful place A land that's never green Where the cold winds blow and the whale fish go And the daylight's seldom seen brave boys And the daylight's seldom seen