A Life on the Ocean Wave

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A Life on the Ocean Wave is a song by Henry Russell and published in the 1840s. The song originated from the poet Epps Sargent - one day he and Russell were walking on The Battery in New York City watching the ships enter the harbour. This scene inspired Sargent to write a poem, which Russell then put to music. The song proceeded to become popular in both England and the United States.

In 1882, the Deputy Adjutant General Royal Marines requested that the Bandmaster of each Royal Marine Division (Portsmouth, Plymouth, Chatham) submit an arrangement for a new regimental march for the corps, if possible based on a naval song. Kappey, the Bandmaster of the Chatham Division, submitted an arrangement of A Life on the Ocean Wave, with an eight bar trio from The Sea by Sigismund Neukomm, which was authorised for use as the regimental quick march of the Corps of Royal Marines in 1882.

[edit] Lyrics

A Life on the Ocean Wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave
And the winds their revels keep

A Life on the Ocean Wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave
And the winds their revels keep
Like an eagle caged I pine
On this dull unchanging shore,
Oh give me the flashing brine
The spray and the tempest's roar

Once more on the deck I stand
Of my own swift gliding craft
Set sail farewell to the land
The gale follows fair abaft
We shoot through the sparkling foam
Like an ocean bird set free
Like an ocean bird, our home
We'll find far out on the sea

The land is no longer in view
The clouds have begun to frown
but with a stout vessel and crew
We'll say let the storm come down
And the song of our hearts shall be
While the wind and waters rave
A life on the heaving sea
A home on the bounding wave