Chorus.

Air—"The World went very well then."

Should you wish to learn of times remote,
Of the deeds men did who never wrote;
Of the deals they dealt and the smites they smote,
And the way the world went then.
Just get an elderly sailor-man
Who has hunted whales for a goodish span,
And ask him to tell—if tell he can—
How well the world went then.

For this man did the deeds, you know!
He struck the stroke and he dealt the blow,
He remembers it all—for he tells you so,
And the world went very well then.
He learned at a school of whales to spout,
Of the Maori rush and his horrid shout,
If he was not there he was there about,
And the whales went very well then.