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When I was a young man just barely fourteen,
Craving adventure and lore,
I boarded a clipper, me Dad was the skipper,
Sailed it along the French Shore;
Yeah, sailed all along the French Shore.
What beautiful vessels were sailing back then,
All bound for the North Labrador;
So for that reason they came here that season,
To sail all along the French Shore;
Yeah, to sail all along the French Shore.
On each ship a maiden was hired to cook,
A beautiful girl to adore;
Young and cavorting, all ready for courting,
While sailing along the French Shore;
Yeah, while sailing along the French Shore.
Being too young for courting I soon did decide,
To spy on the lovers on shore;
I spied on a couple so loving and supple,
While sailing along the French Shore;
Yeah, while sailing along the French Shore.
Their actions peculiar appeared to me then,
But now they're not funny no more;
They were hugging and kissing, oh, what I'd been missing,
Sailing along the French Shore;
Yeah, while sailing along, sailing along,
While sailing along the French Shore.
That couple has children now, married I know,
You see, they're not young any more;
Yet they don't know how I witnessed the show,
They played all along the French Shore;
Yeah, they played along the French Shore.
That ends the story of my bonny days,
Would that I could live them once more;
This much I know, I'd produce my own show,
And stage it along the French Shore;
Yeah, while sailing along, sailing along,
While sailing along the French Shore.
This variant by Great Big Sea (The Hard And The Easy, trk#5, 2005, WEA, Toronto, ON, recorded at Great Big Sea Studio, St. John's, NL).
See more songs by Great Big Sea.
The YouTube video above features an excellent cover performance by Ed Mulrooney of Grand Falls-Windsor, NL.
See more songs by Ed Mulrooney.
A variant was also recorded by Jim Payne as Sailing Along The French Shore (Jim Payne & Kelly Russell, trk#5, 1985, Pigeon Inlet Productions, St. John's, NL).
