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The Downeaster “Alexa”Billy Joel

Released: October 17, 1989

Songwriter: Billy Joel

Producer: Mick Jones (Foreigner) Billy Joel

[Verse 1]
Well I'm on The Downeaster "Alexa"
And I'm cruising through
Block Island Sound
I have charted a course to The Vineyard
But tonight I am Nantucket bound
I took on diesel
Back in Montauk yesterday
Left this morning from
The bell in Gardiners Bay
Like all the locals here
I've had to sell my home
Too proud to leave
I work my fingers to the bone

[Verse 2]
So I could own my Downeaster "Alexa"
And I go where the ocean is deep
There are giants out there in the canyons
And a good captain can't fall asleep
I got bills to pay
And children who need clothes
I know there's fish out there
But where? God only knows
They say these waters
Aren't what they used to be
But I got people back on land
Who count on me

[Verse 3]
So if you see my Downeaster "Alexa"
And if you work with the rod and the reel
Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis
And I still have my hands on the wheel

[Bridge]
Yay-o
Yay-o
Yay-o
Yay-yay-o

[Verse 4]
Now I drive my Downeaster "Alexa"
More and more miles
From shore every year
Since they told me I can't sell no stripers
And there's no luck
In swordfishing here
I was a bayman like my father was before
You can't make a living
As a bayman anymore
There ain't much future
For a man who works the sea
But there ain't no island
Left for Islanders like me

[Outro]
Yay-yay-yay-o
Yay-yay-yay-o
Yay-yay-yay-yay-o
Yay-yay-yay-o-o

Billy Joel

Billy Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist, singer/songwriter, producer, and composer who ranks as one of the most iconic and influential artists from the mid to late 20th century.

He is the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, wrote a total of 121 songs that achieved 33 Top 40 hits in the US, a 6-time Grammy winner out of 23 nominations, and one of the best-selling recording artists of all-time with 150 million albums sold worldwide.

Joel has since continued to tour and sells out in stadiums globally. He also delved into classical music composition, arranging an album, Fantasies and Delusions released in 2001, opened a motorcycle shop on his native Long Island, and is now regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Among his numerous accolades, he was inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, bestowed with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2013, and awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress in 2014.

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