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 Left this morning from the bell in Gardiners Bay, Like all the locals here I 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 canyon And a good captain can't fall asleep. I got bills to pay and children who need clothes I know there's fish out there but God only knows, They say these waters aren't what they used to be But I 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. 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.