The Downeaster "Alexa"

Words & Music:

Billy Joel

 

Am   G  Am

 

         C          G         Am         C                G            F

Well I'm on the Downeaster "Alexa" & I'm cruising through Block Island Sound.

F                  C             Dm                C           G         F  C

I have chartered a course to the Vineyard.  But, tonight, I am Nantucket-bound.

 

F          G              C/E           F

We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday,

F             G                Am                 G/B  F

And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay.

             G                C/E            F

Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home,

             G                  Am             G/B

Too proud to leave, I worked my fingers to the bone...

 

So, I could own my Downeaster "Alexa", & I go where the ocean is deep.

There are giants out there in the canyons & 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 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, when you see my Downeaster "Alexa" & if you work with the rod and the reel,

Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis & I still have my hands on the wheel.

 

Am   G   Am   G   Am   Em   Am

 

Now, I drive my Downeaster :Alexa", more and more miles from shore ev'ry year,

Since they told me I can't sell no stripers & there's no luck in sword fishing 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.

 

        C  G  Am

Ya, ya, ya--, yo!  [repeat 4x]