White Squall Lyrics

Well it's just my luck to have the watch
with nothing left to do
but to watch the deadly water glide
as we roll north to the Soo
and wonder when they'll turn again
and pitch us to the rail
whirl off one more youngster in the gale
the kid was so damn eager
it was all so big and new
never had to tell him twice
or find him work to do
and evenings on the mess deck
he was always first to sing
show us pictures of
the girl he'd wed in spring

but I told that kid a hundred times
don't take the lakes for granted
they go from calm to a hundred knots
so fast they seem enchanted
but tonight a red-eyed Wiarton girl
lies staring at the wall
and her lover's gone into a white squall

it's a thing that us old-timers know
in a sultry summer calm
there comes a blow from nowhere
and it goes off like a bomb
and a fifteen-hundred tonner
can be thrown upon her beam
while the gale takes all before it with a scream
the kid was on the hatches
lying, staring at the sky
from where I stood I swear
I could see tears fall from his eyes
so I hadn't the heart to tell him
that he should be on a line
even on a night so warm and fine

I could feel her keeling over
with the fury of the blow
and I watched the rail go under then
so terrible and slow
then like some great dog
she shook herself
and roared upright again
far overside I heard him call my name


(Thanks to Mark Greene for these lyrics)