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Come all ye lads, draw near to me,
That I be not forsaken;
This day was lost the Jeannie C.,
And my living has been taken.
I'll go to sea no more.
We set out this day in a bright sunrise,
The same as any other;
My son and I and old John Price,
In a boat named for my mother.
I'll go to sea no more.
It's well you know what the fishing has been,
It's been scarce and hard and cruel;
But this day, by God, we sure caught cod,
And we sang and we laughed like fools.
I'll go to sea no more.
Now, I'll never know what it was we struck,
But strike we did like thunder;
John Price gave a cry and he pitched o'erside,
Now it's forever he's gone under.
I'll go to sea no more.
Now a leak we've sprung, let there be no delay,
If the Jeannie C. we're saving;
John Price is drowned and slipped away,
So I'll patch the hole while you're bailing.
I'll go to sea no more.
But no leak I found from bow to hold,
No rock it was that got her;
But what I found made my heart stop cold,
For every seam poured water.
I'll go to sea no more.
My God! I cried as she went down,
That boat was like no other;
My father built her when I was nine,
And he named her for my mother.
I'll go to sea no more.
And sure, I could have another made,
In the boat shop down in Dover;
But I would not love the keel they laid,
Like the one that waves roll over.
I'll go to sea no more.
So come all ye lads, draw near to me,
That I be not forsaken;
This day was lost the Jeannie C.,
And my whole life has been taken.
I'll go to sea no more.
Liner note: Dedicated to the fishermen of Little Dover, NS.
