Row On

Traditional, Martha's Vineyard, Massachussets

Lyrics

Clouds are upon the summer sky,
There's thunder in the wind,
Pull on, pull on, and homeward hie,
Nor give one look behind.

Row on, row on, another day
May shine with brighter light,
Fly, fly the oars and pull away,
There's dawn beyond the night.

Bear where thou goest the words of love,
Say all that words can say,
Changeless affection, strength to prove,
But speed upon the way.

Like yonder river would I glide,
To where my heart would be,
My bark should soon outsail the tide,
That hurries out to sea.

But yet a star shines constant still,
Through yonder cloudy sky,
And hope as bright my bosom fills,
From faith that cannot die.

Row on, row on, God speed the way,
Thou canst not linger here,
Storms hang about the closing day,
Tomorrow may be clear.

Sources

Roud 2084

• Lyrics found in the logbook of the whaling ship Three Brothers out of Nantucket (1846 voyage)
• Original poem by G.P.R. James from his 1844 novel "Arabella Stuart: A Romance from English History"
• Published in Gale Huntington, Songs the Whalemen Sang (1964)
• Melody composed by Tim Laycock (Dorset, England)

Notable Recordings

• Danny Spooner - Launch Out on the Deep (2002)

The Story

Mia Bertelli's version of this song is something else. When she sings it, you understand immediately why someone went looking for a melody to put to these words, which were found in a logbook from the vessel Three Brothers out of Martha's Vineyard and published in Gail Huntington's "Songs the Whalemen Sang."

Getting it to work in the boat is another matter. People generally sing it loose and free, not as a crisp metronomic march, and that looseness means you have to mold it to the boat, to the oars, to the rowers you have with you. Oar length, body mechanics, speed, it all shifts throughout a row. I've watched a youngster in Belfast, Maine, work hard at this one, telling herself she can't do it while rowing (she's wrong), and I've seen the moments when it clicks for her. That click is everything. The song rewards patience and flexibility and if you put the time into deeply inhabiting the song, it will make you a better singer, a better crew leader, and a better listener on the water.