I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume and the seagulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry [yarn]1 from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

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View original text (without footnotes)
Note: first published in Speaker (Feb. 1902)
¹ Ireland: "tale"

Text Authorship:

• by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), "Sea-Fever", appears in Salt Water Ballads, first published 1902 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Mark Andrews (1875 - 1939), "Sea-Fever", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Christopher Ball , "Sea fever" [ voice and piano ], from his oboe concerto [sung text not yet checked]
• by Marshall H. Barnes (b. 1921), "I must go down to the seas again" [ satb chorus and orchestra ], from Salt Water Ballads [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Griffith Bratt (1914 - 1983), "Sea-Fever" [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Flora Bullock , "Sea-Fever", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Coningsby Clarke (1879 - 1934), "Sea-Fever", published 1919 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of a Rover [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dawn C. Crawford (b. 1919), "Sea-Fever", 1942 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Hopkins Densmore (1880 - 1943), "I must go down to the seas again", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph T. Enos (b. 1911), "Sea-Fever", published <<1957 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Richard Bruce Faith (b. 1926), "Sea-Fever" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Elizabeth Gest , "Down to the sea", published 1927 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "Sea-Fever", published 1915 [ medium voice or unison chorus and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Adams Loud (d. 1935?), "Sea-Fever", published 1924 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Raymond Earle Mitchell (1895 - 1967), "I must go down to the seas again", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jason Rico (b. 1978), "Sea-Fever" [ voice and viola ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Tom Vernon Ritchie (b. 1922), "Sea-Fever" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by James Hotchkiss Rogers (1857 - 1940), "Sea-Fever", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wallace Arthur Sabin (1869 - 1937), "Sea-Fever", published <<1929 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Scull , "Sea-Fever" [ unison chorus and piano ], note: may be a different text [sung text not yet checked]
• by Bryceson Treharne (1879 - 1948), "Sea-Fever", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 161