Back to Hilo

There's a dark an' dirty wineshop on a waterfront I know,
An' a cross-eyed Dago keeps it — or he kep' it years ago —
Where the sailormen an' greasers sit them down to dice and dine —
An' I wish I was back again in Hilo —
In Hilo —
Drinkin' old Jacinto's wine!

There's the blessed Andes standin' up behind it like a wall,
An' there's dust, an' stinks, an' insecks, an' there ain't much else at all,
An' them sulky Dago wenches, they was never much my line —
But I wish I was back again in Hilo —
In Hilo —
Drinkin' old Jacinto's wine.

For my mind it keeps on turnin' — an' I ask you, ain't it queer,
When the stuff we used to get there warn't a bloomin' patch on beer? —
To that dirty Dago's wineshop an' them old-time pals o' mine —
An' I wish I was back again in Hilo —
In Hilo —
Drinkin' old Jacinto's wine.

Notes:

From ROVINGS: Sea Songs & Ballads, edited by Cicely Fox Smith, published by Elkin Mathews, London, UK, © 1921, p. 45.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble