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 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 when 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 sword fishing here I was a bay man like my father was before Can't make a living as a bay man anymore        There ain't much future for a man who works the sea There ain't no island left for islanders like me   Ya, ya, ya  yo                Ya, ya, ya  yo                Ya, ya, ya  yo                Ya, ya, ya  yo