From the recording In the Hills

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Lyrics

Em D C Em / C D C D / Em D C Em / C D Em –
Chorus: G D C D / Em D C D / Em

It’s 1897, and I’m down in 'Frisco Bay
When news comes down from the Arctic ground and most are swept away
With the fever of the goldfields and now they’re Klondike bound
But not me, I’m going to Herschel Island

I first sailed to the Artic in April ‘91
There’s plenty of room on the Mary D. Hume for any mother’s son
Who’s seeking for adventure at the end of a harpoon
And that’s me, I’m going to Herschel Island

And way hey, up north to the pole
But I don’t give a damn for the Klondike gold
Make my living in the Arctic sea
Herschel Isle, it’s the whaling life for me

We first got there in August, not a whale was to be seen
We soon got froze in a sheltering cove the Captain called Pauline
'Twas a long, cold, bitter winter that most began to loathe
But not me, I’m made for Herschel Island

When finally Spring came on us, we dragged our boat for miles
It was deadly slow to the edge of the floe, then a prize for all our trials
For the whales they were a-spouting, they gave us quite a show
It’s Nature’s home up there on Herschel Island

Now it’s a bloody cruel carnage, but a man must show no fear
We want the baleen, to those creature’s screams we turn a deafened ear
For they’ve promised us a fortune, that I doubt will e’er be seen
But I don’t care I’m going to Herschel Island

It was two years and a quarter ‘fore we finally made it home
I’ve next to no pay but I’m happy today, what cares I but to roam
For there’s magic in the Arctic, and all my mates would say
I’ve left my heart up there in Herschel Island