Castaway - Tom Robinson

As a child, I was terrified of the mighty ocean

When I heard the distant urging of the brine

Though I cried at night as I tried to fight the emotion

That bitter cup of tears was truly mine

But when I came to taste the spray on the waterfront

I lost my fear and shrugged away my shame

And I stowed away on a trans-atlantic freighter

With the tempest raging in my every vein

A man may spend his life afloat, a man may live ashore

I’ll cast away and take my chance at sea

There were stormy days and roaring nights a-plenty

In the salty fellowship of boys and men

They were tough and true, they were glassy eyed and reckless

With a blazing thirst, I drank and drank again

We crossed the line, explored the depths of danger

Exceeding every fantasy and dream

No landsman with his stifling horizons

Could ever guess the wonders we had seen

A man may spend his life afloat, a man may live ashore

I’ll cast away and take my chance at sea

I’ve braved the waves in an open boat and I know these waters well

I’ll man your lifeboat any time you need

Way, castaway from the restless aching

Way, castaway, gonna leave it all behind

Way, far away where the waves are breaking

Way, far away where the ocean meets the sky

Well a ship must tack and a man must follow his compass

On an unknown shore I foundered in the sand

Met a salty girl with a sailor’s gait and her eyes were a greeny blue

And she knew the ropes like the back of her sunburned hand

We danced a hornpipe on the beach to the sound of the seething swell

We drank and sank exhausted on the strand

Till I slipped my anchor, quit my ship and became a castaway

To savor the embrace of her native land

A man may spend his life afloat, a man may live ashore

A man may marry and still put out to sea

We brave the waves in our open boat and we know these waters well

We’ll man your lifeboat any time you need

Way, castaway from the restless aching

Way, castaway, gonna leave it all behind

Way, far away where the waves are breaking

Way, far away, where the ocean meets the sky