There's lumber and rusty old nails by the door,
We'll board up these houses and live here no more;
And even the gulls won't come up from the shore,
'Cause they know all the people are leavin'.
There's Tucker and Darcy and Skipper Tom Brown,
They pulled up the boat and have battened her down;
She's just one more soul that fate pushed aground,
The ocean's still as a tombstone.
We'll move to the city, they'll pay for our homes,
If the town was a body, it would be skin and bones;
What of the men who lie here in the ground,
Who died breathin' life in this town?
The dreams of our fathers will die in their sleep,
When they put out the lights in Great Harbour Deep.
Things were much better when I was a lad,
When two workin' hands were all a man had;
The sea was our mother, she called us from land,
But now she seems like a stranger.
It's funny, they say there's no cod anymore,
But you'll find them in restaurants and all the fine stores;
It's like God told them all, stay far from our shores,
The foreigners must need the money.
So we'll move to the city, they'll pay for our homes,
If the town was a body, it would be skin and bones;
What of the men who lie here in the ground,
Who died breathin' life in this town?
The dreams of our fathers will die in their sleep,
When they put out the lights in Great Harbour Deep.
They're down at the powerhouse, they'll soon throw the switch,
That will send us the darkness as black as the pitch;
And some guy up in Ottawa, that son-of-a-bitch,
In his own bed tonight he'll be keepin'.
So I'll say my goodbyes to the rocks and the trees,
And I'll walk through this splendour whenever I please;
Though the only way back here will be in my dreams,
Ya can't stop a fella from sleepin'.
So we'll move to the city, they'll pay for our homes,
If the town was a body, it would be skin and bones;
What of the men who lie here in the ground,
Who died breathin' life in this town?
The dreams of our fathers will die in their sleep,
When they put out the lights in Great Harbour Deep.
Now there stands the city with wide-open arms,
And I'm sure now to some, well, she does hold her charms;
There's prostitutes, drug dealers, strip joints and bars,
What a great place for raisin' your children.
So, we moved to the city, they paid for our homes,
After all that old village was just skin and bones;
And we left all those men there, alone in the ground,
Who died breathing life in that town;
The dreams of our fathers all died in their sleep,
When they put out the lights in Great Harbour Deep.
So, we moved to the city, they paid for our homes,
After all that old village was just skin and bones;
And we left all those men there, alone in the ground,
Who died breathing life in that town;
The dreams of our fathers all died in their sleep,
When they put out the lights in Great Harbour Deep.
The ocean stands watchin', her vigil she'll keep,
She's the only one left now in Great Harbour Deep.