around the wild cape horn

i was born a land-bound farm boy and in new england raised

the rippling of the wheat fields

well they were my ocean waves

each rise and fall

each cry and call

of the crows across the corn

were seagulls swooping around the bow

of the ship i dreamed i'd sail around cape horn

my deck was the dusty farmyard

my mast was the telegraph pole

the windblown whine in the telegraph wire

was the sound called in my soul

and it seemed to have been singing since the day that i was born

you're gonna take a trip on a sailing ship

all the way around the wild cape horn

well

i found that ship in hamburg and her name it was peking

our skipper's name was jervis

well i never met a man like him

he pulled two men out from the sea

by the hair

in a raging storm

and he kept that grip on the sailing ship

all the way around the wild cape horn

well

the cargo weighed five thousand tons

the ship three thousand more

an acre of sail was up aloft

some seventeen stories tall

and we had a pig and a scruffy dog and a turkey fed on corn

willing hands to drive her on

all the way around the wild cape horn

well

its four hours on and its four hours off

and you sleep in your wet clothes

the only dry thing on the ship is the cargo down below

eleven thousand miles we sailed

nigh on one hundred dawns

thirty two sails on a heaving ship

hauling us around the wild cape horn

seventeen days we were becalmed

then friday the thirteenth

sixty-eight great ships were lost in the storm of the century

we blew into the atlantic on a sunlit sparkling morn

the turkey got sick

so we ate him quick

on the way around the wild cape horn

we lost two boys along the voyage

they got washed overboard

silence from us down below

no one could put in words

two empty bunks to mark the space

their two lives to mourn

torn between all life and death

all the way around the wild cape horn

well

she had us sort of hypnotized

no time to catch our breath

if you want to love your life

you have to flirt with death

sail close to the harnessed wind and treat all risks with scorn

a farm boy and an unyoked team

ploughed their way around the wild cape horn

mountain waves like avalanches

crashed upon the decks

the screaming winds ripped ropes and spars and tried to have us wrecked

but she rose and fell through foam and swell

her sails all ripped and torn

eight thousand tons

tossed like a cork

we made it 'round the wild cape horn

well

she had us sort of hypnotized

no time to catch our breath

if you want to love your life

well you have to flirt with death

sail close to the harnessed wind and treat all risks with scorn

a farm boy and an unyoked team

ploughed their way around the wild cape horn

a farm boy and an unyoked team

ploughed their way around the wild cape horn