From the recording Blue Water
I wrote this song on the midnight to four a.m. watch sailing across the Gulf of Maine and the mouth of Fundy Bay in the pea soup fog, which was a bit like being on the inside of a wet, dark gray, cotton ball. Every once in a while a shearwater would appear, skim along next to us and then vanish into the mist, but otherwise it was like being in a sensory deprivation chamber. I was pretty cold and miserable, but Diane was meeting me in Halifax and I got this song out of it which made the whole enterprise worthwhile.
Lyrics
We’re Nova Scotia bound, boys
Nova Scotia bound
Sailin’ on the Gulf of Maine, boys
Nothing but the fog and rain, boys
We’re Nova Scotia bound
It’s three long days and nights, boys
Three long days and nights
If the wind is there and ready
If the current’s fair and steady
We’re Nova Scotia bound
My true love’s waiting there, boys
True love’s waiting there
I can see her shining face, boys
I can feel her warm embrace, boys
We’re Nova Scotia bound
The sea is dark and cold, boys
Sea is dark and cold
And it leaves a space inside you
Greater than the grace that guides you
We’re Nova Scotia bound
And when my time is gone, boys
When my time is gone
Bury me upon the hillside
Underneath the flowers at the spring tide
I’m Nova Scotia bound
I’m Nova Scotia bound