Jim Payne is a popular Newfoundland folk singer who specialises in songs of the sea. He performs regularly with Fergus O'Byrne and with the band "A Crowd of Bold Sharemen". I had the privilege of hearing him sing with Fergus both in St. John's at this open air concert and in Bonaventure on the Bonavista Peninsular on the set of the movie "Random Passage". I also heard them as part of "A Crowd of Bold Sharemen" at the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival.
He has written several songs, but this one, composed with Janis Spence, is probably his best known. My wife and I both loved this song as soon as we heard it on a CD we bought in Ferryland, and I have already uploaded an a capella version in our room in St John's.
Lyrics and chords:
G
Me name's Abel Rogers; a shareman am I
............ C ..................... G .................. Am
On a three-masted schooner from Twillingate Isle.
........ C ................... G ................. C ....................... G
I've been the world over, north, south, east, and west
............... C ........... G ................... Am ........ D
But the middle of nowhere's where I like it best.
Chorus:
................... C ............. G ............ C ..... G
Where it's wave over wave, sea over bow
........... C ........... G ............ Am .......... D
I'm as happy a man as the sea will allow.
.............. C ........ G .......... C ............ G
There's no other life for a sailor like me
............ C ............... G ............. Am ...... D
But to sail the salt sea, boys, sail the sea
............. C ............................ D ............... G
There's no other life but to sail the salt sea.
The work it is hard and the hours are long
My spirit is willing, my back it is strong
And when our work's over then whiskey we'll pour.
We'll dance with the girls upon some foreign shore.
I'd leave my wife lonely ten months of the year.
She made me a home and raised my children dear
But she'd never come out to bid farewell to me
Or ken why a sailor must sail the salt sea.
I've sailed the wide oceans four decades or more
And ofttimes I've wondered what I do it for.
I don't know the answer; it's pleasure and pain.
With life to live over, I'd do it again.
Lyrics and chords of many of my songs are no longer available, as my website has expired. I am currently posting lyrics to the information panels on all my videos and those that are too long to post in full will be found on my new website: [ Ссылка ]
