Oh brother, been sixty three days
The water's been choppy, the whaler she sways
Can't keep no food down, can't find no sleep
Cuz the night is too dark and the water's too deep
Twas summer I boarded this old wooden ship
Sun she was shinin' on Cullero's dock slip
But now it's all storms way out on the cold seas
An' if I don't drown, then surely I'll freeze
Wind blow us over this inky black wave
Brother protect me from a watery grave
Now the rats on the deck, nippin' my feet
And the holes in my rags, stealin' my heat
These bowls of brown soup, with barely no meat
Make me dream nightly of my sunny old street
But a poor fool like me's gotta earn a straight wage
So I walked myself on to this seafarin' cage
Where the captain's a bully and the crew's full of thieves
An' the liquor's so bad I get the dry heaves
Wind blow us over this inky black wave
Brother protect from a watery grave
Eight weeks, they said eight
But it's ten weeks we still wait
Not one lonely rock in sight
So it's another perilous night
Now come young sailor, learn from my trials
If y'dream of sailin' the Empire of the Isles
It's a tale of hard times, with death ev'ry day
So don't believe one word that captain might say
Wind blow us over this inky black wave
Brother protect me from a watery grave
A watery grave
A watery grave
