Name: The Grey Funnel Line
Duration: P00H03M05S
Description: Written by Cyril Tawney in 1959, "The Grey Funnel Line" is of course, sailor's slang for the Royal Navy. This very popular song has been a well known part of the tradition for at least as long as I can remember.

The Grey Funnel Line

by Debra Hannis

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Written by Cyril Tawney in 1959, "The Grey Funnel Line" is of course, sailor's slang for the Royal Navy. This very popular song has been a well known part of the tradition for at least as long as I can remember.

lyrics

Don't mind the rain or the rolling sea,
The weary night never worries me.
But the hardest time in sailor's day
Is to watch the sun as it dies away.
It's one more day on the Grey Funnel Line.

The finest ship that sailed the sea
Is still a prison for the likes of me.
But give me wings like Noah's dove,
I'd fly up harbour to the girl I love.
It's one more day on the Grey Funnel Line.

There was a time my heart was free
Like a floating spar on the open sea
But now the spar is washed ashore
It comes to rest at my real love's door.
It's one more day on the Grey Funnel Line.

Every time I gaze behind the screws
Makes me long for old Peter's shoes
I'd walk right down that silver lane
And take my love in my arms again.
It's one more day on the Grey Funnel Line.

Oh Lord, if dreams were only real,
I'd have my hands on that wooden wheel.
And with all my heart I'd turn her round
And tell the boys that we're homeward bound.
It's one more day on the Grey Funnel Line.

I'll pass the time like some machine
Until blue water turns to green.
Then I'll dance on down that walk ashore
And sail the Grey Funnel Line no more.
And sail the Grey Funnel Line no more.

credits

released April 1, 2016
Cyril Tawney

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Debra Hannis Gloucester, UK

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