G D Em
Well I'm on the Downeaster "Alexa"
G D Em
And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound
C G Am
I have charted a course to the Vineyard
G D Em
But tonight I am Nantucket bound
C D G C
We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday
C D G D
And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay
C D G C
Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home
C D G D
Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the bone
G D Em
So I could own my Downeaster "Alexa"
G D Em
And I go where the ocean is deep
C G Am
There are giants out there in the canyons
G D Em
And a good captain can't fall asleep
C D G C
I've got bills to pay and children who need clothes
C D G D
I know there's fish out there but where God only knows
C D G C
They say these waters aren't what they used to be
C D G D
But I've got people back on land who count on me
G D Em
So if you see my Downeaster "Alexa"
G D Em
And if you work with the rod and the reel
C G Am
Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis
G D Em
And I still have my hands on the wheel
G D Em
Now I drive my Downeaster "Alexa"
G D Em
More and more miles from shore every year
C G Am
Since they tell me I can't sell no stripers
G D Em
And there's no luck in swordfishing here.
C D G C
I was a bayman like my father was before
C D G D
Can't make a living as a bayman anymore
C D G C
There ain't much future for a man who works the sea
C D G D
But there ain't no island left for islanders like me
