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