The Downeaster "Alexa"

Well I'm on the Downeaster "Alexa"
And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound
I have charted a course to the Vineyard
But tonight I am Nantucket bound

We took on diesel
Back in Montauk yesterday
And left this morning
From the bell in Gardner's Bay

Like all the locals here
I've had to sell my home
Too proud to leave
I worked my fingers to the bone

So I could own my Downeaster "Alexa"
And I go where the ocean is deep
There are giants out there in the canyons
And a good captain can't fall asleep

I've got bills to pay
And children who need clothes
I know there's fish out there
But where God only knows

They say these waters
Aren't what they used to be
But I've got people
Back on land who count on me

So if you see my Downeaster "Alexa"
And if you work with the rod and the reel
Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis
And I still have my hands on the wheel

Aye aye aye yo
Aye aye aye aye yo

Now I drive my Downeaster "Alexa"
More and more miles from shore every year
Since they told me I can't sell no stripers
And there's no luck in swordfishing here

I was a bayman
Like my father was before
Can't make a living
As a bayman anymore

There ain't much future
For a man who works the sea
But there ain't no island
Left for islanders like me

Aye aye aye yo
Aye aye aye aye yo
Aye aye aye yo
Aye aye aye aye yo

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