Paul Austin Kelly – Stormalong lyrics

In a big tidal wave much too high for this song
There was born from the ocean the great Stormalong.
He was eighteen feet tall and he weighed several ton,
Of the world’s greatest sailors he surely was one.
What a boon to the sailors to have Storm enlist.
There was only one problem as you’ve probably guessed:
Whenever old Stormy would climb the gangplank,
Inevitably, that good ship promptly sank.

[Refrain:]
Stormalong, Oh Stormalong
The sailors still gather to sing this sad song.
Stormalong, Oh Stormalong
Will you ever return to the sea?

Well, the sailors got busy and soon they unfurled
The biggest darn clipper ship yet in the world.
It took forty seamen to manage her wheel
And hundred foot waters to take in her keel.

They left Boston Harbor with the sun on their necks,
It had taken four weeks to get all hands on deck.
The ship was so lengthy they all quickly learned
To employ teams of horses just to get stem to stern.

[Refrain:]
Stormalong, Oh Stormalong
The sailors still gather to sing this sad song.
Stormalong, Oh Stormalong
Will you ever return to the sea?

The ship’s towering masts went straight up to the sky
With a hinge in the middle just to let the moon by.
The trip to the crow’s nest took ever so long
That the crewmen had beards when they finally came down.

When approaching the great English Channel at last,
Storm saw their great girth wouldn’t let them get past.
He bellowed, “My friends, this is our only hope.
Haul up that whole shipment of laundry soap!”

They soaped up her sides from the rail to the keel,
From the bow to the stern till she slipped like an eel.
They slid through the Channel that memorable day,
Touching White Cliffs of Dover and the streets of Calais.

[Refrain:]
Stormalong, Oh Stormalong
The sailors still gather to sing this sad song.
Stormalong, Oh Stormalong
Will you ever return to the sea?

One day weighing anchor from out of the sludge
They pulled on the chain but that chain wouldn’t budge.
Said Stormy, “My boys, you just leave it to me.”
And with a sword in his teeth, he jumped into the sea.

The ship began pitching on wild, foaming waves,
The crew feared they were headed for watery graves.
But just as that ship was about to capsize
Stormy bobbed to the surface with his tentacled prize.

It seems that an octopus swam from the ooze,
Settled down on their anchor and was taking a snooze.
He was fifty feet long and he weighed several ton
Well matched to ol’ Stormy, that son of a gun.

[Refrain:]
Stormalong, Oh Stormalong
The sailors still gather to sing this sad song.
Stormalong, Oh Stormalong
Will you ever return to the sea?