The Sinking of the Rueben James

Johnny Horton

The Sinking of the Rueben James

What were their names, tell me what were their names?

Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?

Have you heard of a ship called that good Reuben James?

Manned by hard-fighting men both of honor and fame

She flew the Stars and Stripes of the Land of the Free

But tonight she's in her grave at the bottom of the sea.

CHORUS

What were their names, tell me what were their names?

Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?

Tell me, what were their names, what were their names?

Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?

It was there in the dark of that uncertain night

That we waited for U-boats and waited for that fight

Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion roared

And they laid the Reuben James on that cold ocean floor.

CHORUS

Now, tonight there are lights in our country so bright

On the farms and the cities they're tellin' of that fight

And now our mighty battleships will sail the bounding main

And remember the men of the good Reuben James.

CHORUS