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The sun in the morning used to call me to the day,
And the wind from the sea could blow my cares away;
And I'll never more go down to watch the boats come in the bay,
Watch the boats in the harbours of home.
Good sailors on the MaryAnn, the finest, pledged to me,
He went under with the others when the boat went down at sea;
And gone with him are all our dreams of happiness to be,
Waiting for us in the harbours of home.
The sun in the morning used to call me to the day,
And the wind from the sea could blow my cares away;
And I'll never more go down to watch the boats come in the bay,
Watch the boats in the harbours of home.
Just like it was yesterday, I hear the churchbells toll,
And time it takes forever and the hours slowly roll;
Though they tell me passing days surely heal an aching soul,
My tears could fill the harbours of home.
The sun in the morning used to call me to the day,
And the wind from the sea could blow my cares away;
And I'll never more go down to watch the boats come in the bay,
Watch the boats in the harbours of home.
The ocean gives us fish, and the fish it buys our bread,
Strike a bargain with the devil so that all of us are fed;
But nothing's given free and our bonnie boys are dead,
All our young men from the harbours of home.
The sun in the morning used to call me to the day,
And the wind from the sea could blow my cares away;
And I'll never more go down to watch the boats come in the bay,
Watch the boats in the harbours of home.
Watch the boats in the harbours of home.
Recorded by Norm and Betty McDonald. A variant was also recorded by Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir, and Ed Trickett (Harbors Of Home, 1998).
