About this song
This gentle folk-rock style farewell ballad was written as a poem by Ron A.
Webster, a silversmith and amateur folk-singer from England. It was entered in
a radio-station hosted competition hosted by Kenyan-born, British-educated folk singer Roger
Whittaker (ref). Whittaker wrote a tune for the text, and recorded it with an orchestral
backing in 1971 (ref).
The song was included in Whittaker's 1971 album New World in the Morning, and then reissued in 1975, and ranked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one in several other contemporary charts. It has been recorded by artists including Elvis Presley.
The words are a statement of love and farewell from a veteran of World War I, who on the brink of World War II has to farewell his love on a tropical paradise (likely the Caribbean) and sail home to England. He expects that he will never see her again: either his ship will be attacked and die at sea, or perhaps he will reach England but be unable to return.
Notwithstanding these sentiments, most people focus on the chorus, and the song has become immensely popular as both a statement of love, and more recently as a funeral song for a loved one.
The song was included in Whittaker's 1971 album New World in the Morning, and then reissued in 1975, and ranked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one in several other contemporary charts. It has been recorded by artists including Elvis Presley.
The words are a statement of love and farewell from a veteran of World War I, who on the brink of World War II has to farewell his love on a tropical paradise (likely the Caribbean) and sail home to England. He expects that he will never see her again: either his ship will be attacked and die at sea, or perhaps he will reach England but be unable to return.
Notwithstanding these sentiments, most people focus on the chorus, and the song has become immensely popular as both a statement of love, and more recently as a funeral song for a loved one.
Where to buy sheet music or recordings / MP3s
(This section may have affiliate links: If you buy an item after clicking them, I may receive a small commission.)
Other recordings
Elvis Presley recording:
Orchestral instrumental version:
Lyrics
The words of this song are copyright and fair-use provisions only allow a small selection of them to be be shared here. But they are available on this website. A rough outline is:1 There's a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbour, tomorrow for old England she sails ...
.
Refrain:
For you are beautiful.
And I have loved you dearly,
More dearly than the spoken word can tell.
2 I heard there's a wicked war a blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well ...
3 Though death and darkness gather all about me, and my ship be torn apart upon the seas ...
