The Walloping Window Blind

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The Walloping Window Blind (1885)
by Charles Edward Carryl

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This poem is an excerpt from Chapter VIII of the children’s book Davy and the Goblin (1885), but has become popular in its own right. Over the years the poem has undergone a “folk process,” by which some verses are dropped, other verses added, and some lines altered. This is the original version published in the book. This song is made famous by Tom Chapin who adapted the song from the album Mother Earth with collaborator John Forster.

118423The Walloping Window Blind1885Charles Edward Carryl

A capital ship for an ocean trip
Was “The Walloping Window Blind;”
No wind that blew dismayed her crew
Or troubled the captain’s mind.
The man at the wheel was made to feel
Contempt for the wildest blow,
Though it oft appeared, when the gale had cleared,
He’d been in his bunk below.

So, blow yee winds hi-ho,
A-roving I will go!
I'll stay no more on England's shore,
So let the music play!
I'm off for the morning train,
I'll cross the raging main!
I'm off for my love with the boxing glove
Ten thousand miles away!

The bosun’s mate was very sedate,
Yet fond of amusement, too;
He played hopscotch with the starboard watch
While the captain tickled the crew.
The gunner we had was apparently mad,
For he sat on the after-rail,
And fired salutes with the captain’s boots,
In the teeth of the booming gale.

So, blow yee winds hi-ho,
A-roving I will go!
I'll stay no more on England's shore,
So let the music play!
I'm off for the morning train,
I'll cross the raging main!
I'm off for my love with the boxing glove
Ten thousand miles away!

The captain sat on the commodore’s hat,
And dined at the Royal Way,
Off pickles and figs and little roast pigs
And gunnery bread, each day.
The cook was Dutch, and behaved as such;
For the diet he served the crew
Was a couple of tons of hot-cross buns,
Served up with sugar and glue.

Then we all fell ill as mariners will,
On a diet that’s rough and crude;
And we shivered and shook as we dipped the cook
In a tub of his gluesome food.
All nautical pride we cast aside,
And we ran the vessel ashore
On the Gulliby Isles, where the Poohpooh smiles,
And the rubbily udbugs roar.

So, blow yee winds hi-ho,
A-roving I will go!
I'll stay no more on England's shore,
So let the music play!
I'm off for the morning train,
I'll cross the raging main!
I'm off for my love with the boxing glove
Ten thousand miles away!

So, blow yee winds hi-ho,
A-roving I will go!
I'll stay no more on England's shore,
So let the music play!
I'm off for the morning train,
I'll cross the raging main!
I'm off for my love with the boxing glove
Ten thousand miles away!

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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