Well I´m on the Downeaster "Alexa"
And I´m cruising through Long Island Sound
I have charted 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 tell 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