Cyril Tawney 1959
Tawney wrote this melancholy song before he left the Royal Navy. He’d served since he was 15. The title The Grey Funnel Line is an euphemism for the Navy, equating the colour of its funnels with those of company emblems found on commercial shipping lines (e.g. the Blue Funnel Line or the Black Ball Line). The first line of the chorus is inspired by the shanty One More Day. Part of verse 2 taken from a Lomax transcription from an enslaved woman named Dink. He said about verse 3 “It was a long time before I began writing down the words of my songs; my theory was that if they weren’t memorable enough to stay in my own head, then they weren’t likely to stay in other people’s.” He had consequently forgotten this verse but not before Lou Killen recorded it, learned it, and reshared it with Tawney in 1964.
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.