Haul Away On The Halyard

"Haul Away On The Halyard"

Music & Lyrics by Scott Cooley.

Dead in the water black flies everywhere (oh no too slow)

Sunscreenin' and sweatin' and prayin' for air (oh no too slow)

Might as well drop the sails and go for a swim

But all we need is a puff and we're destined to win

Way oh heave ho haul away on the halyard

In the days of old the ships were all tall (oh no too old)

Took twenty men to hoist them all (oh no too old)

For sails they had many, we've only got two

If we only had wind, a main and genny would do

Way oh heave ho haul away on the halyard

It's simple today, our halyards are short (oh no too slow)

Instead of racing for pay, we're racing for sport (oh no too slow)

With no lady luck to blow us away

We'll get those sails up and sing anyway

Way oh heave ho haul away on the halyard

Well back in the day, it took them too long (oh no too long)

By the time they were done

They could sing a whole song (oh no too long)

Our halyards rigged to the cockpit, don't have to go on deck

All we need is a breeze and we might even get wet

Way oh heave ho haul away on the halyard

No one will ever say that we worked too hard (no not too hard)

With technology bought with a credit card (oh no credit card)

They'll say we pushed buttons, sat around and drank

Our winches electric, we don't even have to crank

Way oh heave ho haul away on the halyard

Sailing's easy today, everything's quick (oh no too slow)

But finding the wind is no magic trick (oh no too slow)

So I'll call out a tune, and you can all sing along

It's time to beat the doldrums, and sing a windsong

Way oh heave ho haul away on the halyard

Since we're going nowhere fast (oh no too slow)

We've got to prepare so we don't come in last (oh no too slow)

We've got plenty of time to take it up slow

So let's sing while we work like the days of old

Way oh heave ho haul away on the halyard

We'll haul it up one yard at a time (oh no too slow)

Hand over hand as the sails slowly rise (oh no biding our time)

Finally a gust is starting to blow

Yo ho hey and away we go

Way oh heave ho haul away on the halyard

Copyright © ℗ 2006 by Scott Cooley. All rights reserved.