Song – Waves Roll Out

WRITER

  • Bob Gibson
  • Shel Silverstein

PUBLISHER(S)

  • Robert Josiah Music
  • Hollis Music

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LYRIC

Waves Roll Out

Come along boys, I’ll sing you a song
Of the days when the fish were thick and I was young and strong
And we set sail one morning in the teeth of a howling wind
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in

Then late that night there rose a gale
And it snapped the mast like a stick of wood and it ripped the sail
And you should’ve seen the compass roll as the ship began to spin
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in

Then the sea turned red and the sky went white
And I heard a weird and wailing cry tear through the night
And the sea opened up like a gaping mouth and it pulled us screaming in
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in

And there I saw on the ocean floor
The sailors drowned and dead for thirty years or more
Their boney skinless toothless jaws in a ghostly ghastly grin
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in

And every eye turned toward the shore
And every leg was chained right there to the ocean floor
And each cried out for the ones on land they’d never see again
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in

Their ghostly eyes burned through the sea
And each one screamed and reached a bony hand for me
Crying, “This is the grave of the sailors damned to pay for a life of sin”
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in

The morning found me by the shore
And none believed I was the man who sailed the day before
My hair was white, my eyes were old and I was bent and thin
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in

So bully boys, you’ve heard my song
Of the days when the fish were thick and I was young and strong
I’ve told of the curse that waits for you if you hold to your life of sin
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in
And the waves roll out, and the waves roll in

Words & music by Bob Gibson and Shel Silverstein
© Robert Josiah Music / Hollis Music

Click on lead sheet image for printable PDF.