A 1909 popular song.
Words by Percival Knight.
Music by Jerome D. Kern.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
1. As the Eastern Sun exhausts its rays
On Mount Lavinia's Summit haze
There stands a Ceylon maid
A neck and shoulders fair to view
Searing of colors every hue
Her hair in beaded braid
When suddenly across Columbo bay
She seemed to see
A sight that made her heart leap up
In secret ecstacy
A tiny craft that lay on that horizon far away
She knew it was her lover coming home
Across the bay
Chorus:
Catamarang! Oh! silent Catamarang
Won't you bring my lover back to me
Softly she sang
While your sails of white are spreading
To my heart your bow is heading
Bringing someone to my wedding
Little Catamarang, Oh! silent Catamarang
2. As the birdlike vessel sped along
It seemed to answer to her song
Scorning the wind and tide
Defiant was the look it gave
As bounding on from wave to wave
Bringing him to her side
Still on it came yet nearer
With it bow-sprit to the shore
And reefing sail
It skimmed up on the Island with a roar
She rushed to him and kissed his lips
Again and again
In happiness and joy to know
Her song was not in vain