Lyrics

The rich folks decided to take a trip
On the finest ship that was ever built.
The captain persuaded the people to think
That the Titanic too safe to sink

Chorus:
Out on the o-o-o-ocean
The great wide o-o-o-ocean
The Titanic, out on the ocean,
Sinking down!

The ship left the harbor at a rapid speed,
Carrying everything that people need.
She sailed six-hundred miles away,
Met an iceberg in her way.

Chorus

The ship left the harbor, was running fast.
It was her first trip and her last.
Way out on that ocean wide
An iceberg ripped her in the side.

Chorus

Up comes Bill from the bottom floor
Said the water was running in the boiler door.
Go back Bill, and shut your mouth,
We got forty-eight pumps to keep the water out!

Chorus

Just about then the captain looked around,
He saw the Titanic was sinking down.
He gave orders to the men around:
“Get your life-boats and let them down”

Chorus

The men standing around like heroes brave,
Nothing but the women and the children to save;
The women and the children are wiping their eyes,
Kissing their husbands and friends good-bye.

Chorus

On the fifteenth day of May nineteen-twelve,
The ship wrecked by an iceberg ocean dwelled.
The people were thinking of Jesus of Nazarene,
While the band played “Nearer My God to Thee.”

Chorus

In The American Songbag, 1927, Carl Sandburg, the song is titled “De Titanic,” with score, pp. 254-256.