Life on the Ocean Wave, A

DESCRIPTION: "A life on the ocean wave, a home on the rolling deep, Where the scattered waters roll And the winds their revels keep." The sailor thrills to the sea life, so much that he welcomes even the storms
AUTHOR: Words: Epes Sargent (1813-1880)/Music: Henry Russell (1812-1900)
EARLIEST DATE: 1838 (_New York Mirror_ for May 19, according to Gardner, with the words credited to "Zeta") (Russel's sheet music published 1838 by Hewitt & Jacques of New York)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Huntington-SongsTheWhalemenSang, pp. 87-89, "A Life on the Ocean Wave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Heart-Songs, p. 431, "A Life on the Ocean Wave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1250, p. 86, "A Life on the Ocean Wave" (1 reference)
Dime-Song-Book #3/72, p. 54 and #3/62, p. 58, "A Sailor's Life for Me" (1 text, which appears to be an extensive rewrite based on this song); Dime-Song-Book #8, p. 48, "A Life on the Ocean Wave" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Martin Gardner, editor, _Famous Poems from Bygone Days_, Dover, 1995, pp. 123-124, "A Life on the Ocean Wave" (1 text)
ST SWMS087 (Partial)
Roud #2033
SAME TUNE:
Coal Ship Song (I) (File: Tawn002)
Oh! Come, Fair Maid, With Me (by Kate J. Boyd) (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 112)
Song for the Gallant Hearts! An Original Fireman's Song (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 146)
The Swill Milk Song ("Hurrah! for the steaming swill") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 153)
Life of the Bold Buccaneer (File: FrPi069)
New Harrison Song ("Awake to the stirring sound") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, A. B. Norton & Co., 1888 (available on Google Books), p. 96)
The Men Who Work ("Hurrah for the men who work, whatever their trade may be") (by J. Richardson) (Foner, p. 164)
NOTES [10 words]: For background on Henry Russell, see "Cheer, Boys, Cheer (II)."
Last updated in version 6.6
File: SWMS087

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