Traditional - As sung by Holdstock & Murphy on San Francisco Shanties and Sea Songs of California's Gold Rush
I thought I heard the old man say,
John Kanaka-naka tulai-ae.
There's work tomorrow but no work today.
John Kanaka-naka tulai-ae.
Tulai-ae, oh, tulai-ae,
John Kanaka-naka tulai-ae.
We're bound away from 'Frisco Bay,
John Kanaka-naka tulai-ae.
We're bound away at the break of day.
John Kanaka-naka tulai-ae.
Tulai-ae, oh, tulai-ae,
John Kanaka-naka tulai-ae.
It's just one thing that grieves my mind,
To leave my wife and child behind.
They'll wave farewell down on the key,
They'll wait and fear and weep for me.
We're bound away around Cape Horn,
Where you'll wish to Christ you'd never been born.
The bosun said before I'm through,
You'll curse your mother for havin' you.
It's rotten wheat and weevily bread,
And it's pump or drown, the old man said.
It's one more pull, and that'll do,
And we're the bullies for to pull her through.