Sung by Patty Clink at the Singaround


I'll Go
by Jerry Early and John Gallagher
re the Stolwijk disaster, Dec. 6-7, 1940


Not tonight, of any night, said the coxswain of the crew,
The chances of survival on a night like this are few.
December 1940, off the coast of Donegal,
came a great north wind that could have been
the cruelest of them all.

Fourteen men were missing, eighteen more in great distress,
Jack Boyle knew that their future in his hands had come to rest.
He knew a man who knew the sea if any man would know,
"Will you show the way?" without delay, O'Donnell said "I'll go."

chorus: "I'll go and do the best I can, I'll do what must be done,
I'll go 'cause I'm a lifeboat man, I am my father's son,
I will go and do the best I can, I'll do what must be done,
I'll go 'cause I'm an island man, I am my father's son."

The neighbors watched them gather and they cast a worried eye,
and wondered how that lifeboat crew could possibly survive.
They all agreed that some at least the greatest price would pay,
and the old men shed a tear and knelt down on the ground to pray.

While standing on the pier with his hand-picked squad of men,
Jack told each one that they might never see their homes again.
And he told them it would be no shame if this time they said "no",
each traced a cross upon his brow, stepped up and said "I'll go".

chorus

Against the storm, against the gale, against the mighty waves,
those men were rightly honored as the bravest of the brave.
And let every one salute them, and thank God for men like these,
who would risk their lives for strangers in peril on the seas.

O'Donnell, Ward, and Gallaher, remember these names well,
with the Boyles, the Byrnes, and Rogers, they faced the seas from hell.
With the waves above them crashing down and the heaving mass below,
God bless them every one who made the vow to say "I'll go".

chorus

Now this volunteer lifeboat crew returned to Arainn Mhor,
they'd faced the biggest storm that they had ever seen before.
But they brought them eighteen sailors home and left them on the land,
now they're safe and well and home again,
by the grace of God's own hand.

Now their spirits soar above the waves where they've earned eternal rest,
and surely if there's justice, they are seated with the best.
And I'd like to think in that last hour, God whispered soft and low,
and welcomed home the eight brave men who made the vow to to.

chorus: "I'll go and do the best I can, I'll do what must be done,
I'll go 'cause I'm a lifeboat man, I am my father's son,
I will go and do the best I can, I'll do what must be done,
I'll go 'cause I'm from Arainn Mhor, I am my father's son."