Fisherman's Wharf

(album: Fogarty's Cove - 1977)

It was in the spring this year of grace
With new life pushing through
That I looked from the citadel down to the narrows and asked what it's coming to
I saw Upper Canadian concrete and glass
Right down to the water line
I have heard an old song down on Fisherman's Wharf
Can I sing it just one time?

With half-closed eyes against the sun
For the warm wind giving thanks
I dreamed of the years of the deep laden schooners splashing home from the Grand Banks
The last lays done in the harbor sun
With her picture on a dime
But I have heard an old song down on Fisherman's Wharf
Can I sing it just one time?
And haul away and heave her ho
This song is heard no more
No boats to sing it for
No sails to sing it for
There rises now a single tide of tourists passing through
We traded old ways for the new
Old ways for the new
Old ways for the new, for the new

Now you ask "What's this romantic boy
Who laments what's done and gone?"
There was no romance on a cold winter ocean and the gale sang an awful song
But my fathers knew of wind and tide, and my blood is maritime
And I heard an old song down on Fisherman's Wharf
Can I sing it just one time?
...