The Downeaster Alexa Lyrics

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 Gardiner'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 trawling Atlantis
And I still have my hands on the wheel

Now I drive my Downeaster "Alexa"
More and more miles from shore every year
Since they tell 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

Billy Joel - 12 Gardens: Live (2CD)

Jun 2006

1. Angry Young man
2. My Life
3. Everybody Loves You Now
4. Billy the Kid
5. The Entertainer
6. Vienna
7. New York State of Mind
8. The Night is Still young
9. Zanzibar
10. Miami 2017
11. The Great Wall of China
12. Allentown
13. She's Right on Time
14. Don't Ask Me Why
15. Laura
16. Goodnight Saigon
17. Movin Out
18. An Innocent man
19. The Downeaster Alexa
20. Always a Woman
21. Keeping the Faith
22. River of Dreams
23. A Matter of Trust
24. We Didn't Start the Fire
25. Big Shot
26. You May Be Right
27. Only the Good Die Young
28. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
29. Piano Man
30. And So it Goes