Print This Page#01729 Print This Page
When I was a young man just barely fourteen,
Craving adventure and lore,
I boarded a clipper, me Dad was the skipper,
Sailed it along the French Shore;
Yeah, sailed all along the French Shore.
What beautiful vessels were sailing back then,
All bound for the North Labrador;
So for that reason they came here that season,
To sail all along the French Shore;
Yeah, to sail all along the French Shore.
On each ship a maiden was hired to cook,
A beautiful girl to adore;
Young and cavorting, all ready for courting,
While sailing along the French Shore;
Yeah, while sailing along the French Shore.
Being too young for courting I soon did decide,
To spy on the lovers on shore;
I spied on a couple so loving and supple,
While sailing along the French Shore;
Yeah, while sailing along the French Shore.
Their actions peculiar appeared to me then,
But now they're not funny no more;
They were hugging and kissing, oh, what I'd been missing,
Sailing along the French Shore;
Yeah, while sailing along, sailing along,
While sailing along the French Shore.
That couple has children now, married I know,
You see, they're not young any more;
Yet they don't know how I witnessed the show,
They played all along the French Shore;
Yeah, they played along the French Shore.
That ends the story of my bonny days,
Would that I could live them once more;
This much I know, I'd produce my own show,
And stage it along the French Shore;
Yeah, while sailing along, sailing along,
While sailing along the French Shore.
This variant by Great Big Sea (The Hard And The Easy, trk#5, 2005, WEA, Toronto, Ontario, recorded at Great Big Studio, St. John's, NL).
See more songs by Great Big Sea.
A variant was also recorded by Jim Payne as Sailing Along The French Shore (Jim Payne & Kelly Russell, trk#5, 1985, Pigeon Inlet Productions, St. John's, NL).
The YouTube video above features an excellent cover performance by Johnny Fray of Woburn, Massachusetts.
