ISAAC LEWIS
(Tom Russell)

My name is Isaac Lewis; I'm an able-bodied man
On the ship the Royal Charter, bound off for Van Diemen's Land.
Oh, the sea that took six months to cross, we could do in two,
So it's up that Mersey River, boys, out of Liverpool we flew.

And some of us were sailors, all hardy, young and old,
And some of us were pioneers, bound off for the gold.
There were merchants and musicians, Christian soldiers of the cross.
We stared into that foamy sea, saw our dreams down in the broth.

CHORUS: Sail on; sail on and on and on,
[For] my name is Isaac Lewis [and] this shall be my song.

So we landed there in Botany Bay, and the boys went on the town,
And I met a girl named Emma Gray; I loved her up and down,
And I swore that I'd return for her, one more tour of sea,
But I had to tell my father what he meant to me.

For every night I dreamed a dream, as the wind swept through the sails,
That I was in my father's house back in northern Wales,
And I reached out for my father; I said, "I love you very much,"
But the ship rolled o'er and the dream was drowned before we got to touch.

CHORUS

So I kissed the lips of Emma Gray and set sail for Liverpool,
And the parrots perched in the riggings, boys; dolphins swam in schools,
And our trip it was a pleasant one till we reached the coast of Wales.
One day out from Liverpool, God unleashed a gale.

Good Lord! I've seen some squalls, me boys, hurricanes at sea,
And many nights I'd rediscovered faith on bended knee,
But I never seen it blow so hard; we anchored her at last,
But the waves rolled o'er the top of us; we had to cut the mast.

And all the mining magnates clutched their gold, believing they'd be saved,
But their bloody greed destroyed them first beneath the angry waves.
All the women and the children, lost to eternity!
Ah, man has tamed and shaped the land, but he'll never tame the sea.

And every night I had dreamed a dream, as the wind swept through the sails,
That I was in my father's house, back in northern Wales,
And I reached for my father; I said, "I love you very much,"
But the ship rolled o'er and the dream was drowned before we got to touch.

CHORUS

We were caught upon the rocks ten yards from the shore,
And we saw men standing on the rocks, maybe three or more,
And I swear I saw my father waving at me through the squall,
And I screamed that I was coming home; that's all that I recall.

For the waves they swept me overboard with broken mast and sails,
And I drowned where as a child I'd fished on the rocks of northern Wales,
And in three days time I washed upon the whitened sandy shore,
One hundred yards from Moelfre and my father's white oak door.

CHORUS

And some will cry coincidence, or say this can't be true.
I only say just tell your loved ones what they mean to you,
For ye may sail the sea of life, pursuing golden schemes,
Yet drown so closely to your home, the cradle of your dreams.

CHORUS: Sail on; sail on and on and on,
My name is Isaac Lewis; this has been my song.
My name is Isaac Lewis, and this shall be my song.