Print This Page#00172 Print This Page
Click Here for guitar tabs.
In the mid 1960's the news rang out clear,
Pack your bags and your nets, you must get out of here;
Take your picks and your shovels, your rakes and your hoes,
The government says you must pack up and go.
Well, the news it soon spread to the harbours and coves,
That the young crowd were leaving in hoards and in droves;
For to go to Toronto to follow their goals,
Or to go to Placentia to live on the dole.
And it's out from St. Leonard's and out from Toslow,
They'd steam 'cross the bay with their houses in tow;
With their beds in the bow and their stoves in the stern,
Bound away with their sons and their daughters.
Now, Skipper Jim Pittman he said he wouldn't go,
While there's nets to be mended and hay to be mowed;
He said he'd never work, no matter the pay,
In some hockey stick factory out Stephenville way.
And it's out from St. Leonard's and out from Toslow,
They'd steam 'cross the bay with their houses in tow;
With their beds in the bow and their stoves in the stern,
Bound away with their sons and their daughters.
Now, on all politicians they cursed and they swore,
They rather would fight off in some distant war;
For when they ceased to ramble and they ceased to roam,
They'd like to return to a place they called home.
And it's out from St. Leonard's and out from Toslow,
They'd steam 'cross the bay with their houses in tow;
With their beds in the bow and their stoves in the stern,
Bound away with their sons and their daughters.
Now the islands and harbours and coves are ghost towns,
You need a longliner to harvest the ground;
And a big oil refinery now stands as a shrine,
To the daughters and sons who remember the time.
They sailed out from St. Leonard's and out from Toslow,
They'd steam 'cross the bay with their houses in tow;
With their beds in the bow and their stoves in the stern,
Bound away with their sons and their daughters.
They sailed out from St. Leonard's and out from Toslow,
They'd steam 'cross the bay with their houses in tow;
With their beds in the bow and their stoves in the stern,
Bound away with their sons and their daughters.
Bound away with their sons and their daughters.
Bound away with their sons and their daughters.
The YouTube video above features a recording by The Ennis Sisters (Red Is The Rose, Warner, 1997).
See more songs by the Ennis Sisters.
Also recorded by the Irish Descendants (Misty Morning Shore, Duckworth Records, 1991; So Far So Good, Warner, 1999).
See more songs by the Irish Descendants.
For a better understanding of the government's forced centralization program, see Genevieve Lehr's footnotes to Anthony Ward's song The Blow Below The Belt.
From the Dictionary Of Newfoundland English:
Longliner — vessel that sets [gill] nets which fish swim into rather than dragging nets as trawlers do.
Additional notes: The Come-By-Chance oil refinery is located near Arnold's Cove, NL, at the north end of Placentia Bay on the Trans-Canada Highway. It had been established in 1973 by John Shaheen with Premier Joey Smallwood's support. On March 7, 1976, the refinery was declared bankrupt.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Notes On Guitar Tabs:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
All guitar tabs have been contributed by visitors to this site and represent their interpretation of the tune. We are unable to verify their accuracy.
[C] In the mid 1960's the [F] news rang out [C] clear,
Pack your bags and your nets, you must [F] get out of [G] here;
Take your [C] picks and your shovels, your [F] rakes and your [C] hoes,
The government says you must [F] pack up and [G] go.
