Thought Id set the record straight as the words werent spot on and there were more verses; so Ive scanned the words from the CD cover.

For those of you who dont know the story. The Braer was an oil tanker that ran aground in the Shetlands 8th January, 1993 spilling oil. Luckily the strong winds meant the oil was dispersed.

The Shetlands belong to Norway and so the song is about the Viking long boats and modern times too.

THE ISLANDS

We do not fear the long ships
We've seen long ship, before
Men sailed here from the north land
And hauled their boats ashore
They brought with them their music
The language and the law
And burned their boats and stayed here on the islands        .

Its midday in the winter time
Before the moon does pale
The winter songs are very long
The storm winds and the gales
The midnight sun's as distant
As the ca'ing of the whales
'Till spring returns and comes to paint the islands

The grey seals and the otter
The salmon and the charr
The land bound and the sea trapped
The free birds of the air
The shepherd and the farmer
And all those in their care
Harmonise the music of the island,

We never feared the long ships
'Till the coming of the "Braer"
The roaring sea in anger
Beat that broken boat ashore
Spilled fuel enough to take that ship
Twice round the world or more
And filled the air with oil to paint the islands

As if the sea had realised
The tragedy in store
Its waves continued pounding
About a week or more
Most of the crude was washed away
And never came ashore
The sea regained its temper round the islands

Oh let this be a warning
To those whose faceless greed
Would sail close to the shoreline
To save both fuel and speed
The sea is our protector
And provider of our needs
A jealous guard and keeper of the islands

Ralph McTell from the Sand in Your Shoes CD