The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #29254   Message #368930
Posted By: Joe Offer
05-Jan-01 - 02:12 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: The Downeaster 'Alexa' (Billy Joel)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE DOWNEASTER 'ALEXA' (Billy Joel)
Aw, you caught me sleepin', Clinton. Actually, I couldn't get through most of the day due to ISP problems (Microsoft Network - grrrr....)

"Downeaster Alexa" is a great song; and I like it more now, since I recently travelled that area. I don't recognize all of the place names, but the ones I know are on Long Island Sound. For $38 I took the P.T. Barnum ferry across the Sound in November - wondering if I was one of those who was "born every minute." There was a great view from the ferry, and it saved me a lot of nasty New York driving.
I found the lyrics at this site: http://www.rhx.com/tid/joel/albuminfo/index.html
-Joe Offer-



The Downeaster "Alexa"
(Billy Joel, 1989)

Well I'm on the Downeaster "Alexa"
And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound
I have chartered a course to the Vineyard
But tonight I am Nantucket bound

We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday
And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay
Like all the locals here I've 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 canyons
And a good captain can't fall asleep

I've 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 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