On The Shores of Havana Far Away
Words & Music by Paul Dresser
Published 1898

Many homes are filled with sorrow and with sadness,
Many hearts are torn with anguish and with pain,
And a Nation now is draped in deepest mourning,
For the heroes on our battleship, the Maine,
Some are sleeping 'neath the waters of the harbor,
Some repose beneath a mound of Spanish clay,
And their spirits seem to cry aloud for vengeance,
From the shores of Havana, far away.

[chorus]
Oh, the moon shines down tonight upon the waters,
Where the heroes of the Maine in silence lay,
May they rest in peace, the loved ones who are sleeping,
On the shores of Havana, far away.

They were thinking of their mothers, wives and sweethearts,
They were dreaming of the dear ones left at home,
And perhaps some lad who left the old folks grieving,
Just was writing them from far across the foam.
When suddenly there came a loud explosion,
Like a stone, a wreck, she sank down in the bay,
And two hundred noble hearted sailors perished,
Off the shores of Havana, far away.