The Downeaster Alexa Cifras

[Verse 1]
 
         G            D        Em
Well I'm on the Down- easter A- lexa
       G                 D            C
And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound.
       C         G             Am
I have charted a course to the Vineyard,
       G           D         C
But to- night I am Nantucket bound.
 
 
[Chorus 1]
 
C            D             G               C
 We took on diesel back in Montauk yester- day,
C              D                 Em               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                 Em             D
 Too proud to leave, I worked my fingers to the bone
 
 
[Verse 2]
 
          G             D         Em
So I could own my Down- easter A- lexa
      G             D       C
And I go where the ocean is deep.
           C          G            Am
There are giants out there in the canyons,
       G           D              C
And a good captain can't fall a- sleep.
 
 
[Chorus 2]
 
C      D                G                 C
 I got bills to pay and children who need clothes.
C                D                 Em              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              Em                D
 But I've got people back on land who count on me.
 
 
[Bridge]
 
            G            D         Em
So when you see my Down- easter A- lexa
           G             D         C
And if you work with the rod and a reel,
       C          G            Am
Tell my wife I am trawling At- lantis,
      G             D            C
And I still have my hands on the wheel.
 
 
[Chorus 3]
 
C        D              G             C
 I was a bayman like my father was be-fore.
C             D           Em           D
 Can't make a living as a bayman any-  more.
C                 D            G                 C
 There ain't much future for a man who works the sea.
C                   G               Em             D
 But there ain't no island left for islanders like me.
 
[Verse 3]
 
      G              D         Em
Now I drive my Down- easter A- lexa
         G               D            C
More and more miles from shore ev'ry year,
           C         G             Am
Since they told me I can't sell no stripers.
            G          D             C
And there's no luck in sword fishing here.
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