The Humpback Whale

[Verse 1]
'56 I sailed aboard
A ship called Byron One
She's carried trawler men on deck
And a harpoon whaling gun

[Chorus]
Oh, you trawler men, come on
Forget your snapper and your prawn
For it's out of Ballina we'll sail
Fishing for the humpback whale

[Verse 2]
A tractor for a whale winch
The ship's an old Fairmile
Twin diesels turn the screws around
She'll whale the Aussie style

[Chorus]
Oh, you trawler men, come on
Forget your snapper and your prawn
For it's out of Ballina we'll sail
Fishing for the humpback whale

[Verse 3]
Keep a sharp lookout me lads
The whale is on the run
And we'll drive them into Byron Bay
We'll shoot them with our gun

[Chorus]
Oh, you trawler men, come on
Forget your snapper and your prawn
For it's out of Ballina we'll sail
Fishing for the humpback whale

[Verse 4]
The harpoon and the line fly true
Bedding deep into the whale
She split the timbers of the ship
With a flurry of her tail

[Chorus]
Oh, you trawler men, come on
Forget your snapper and your prawn
For it's out of Ballina we'll sail
Fishing for the humpback whale

[Verse 5]
Rigging struts were snapped in two
Reel beneath the blow
Gunner fires the killer shot
That humpback sinks below

[Guitar Solo]

[Verse 6]
Make the tail fast to the bow
We got no time for bed
For four-and-twenty hours each day
We kept that factory fed

[Chorus]
Oh, you trawler men, come on
Forget your snapper and your prawn
For it's out of Ballina we'll sail
Fishing for the humpback whale

[Verse 7]
A hundred whales and fifty more
Through the factory we did send
Then the orders came, "Knock off, me lads
Your season's at an end"

[Chorus]
Oh, you trawler men, come on
Forget your snapper and your prawn
For it's out of Ballina we'll sail
Fishing for the humpback whale