Digital Tradition Mirror

Schooners at Digby

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Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Schooners at Digby
(Tom Goux)

Oh, the old Ernestina and the Anna Christina
All rafted up there at Digby.
While one was a plug and the other pristiner
But both of them fine schooner rig-by.
And we went for a ride on the four-story tide
A sight to every land-lubber
The tidal fantastic called for gangways elastic
And bow, stern and springlines of rubber.

cho: O the old schooner life has its ups and downs
     At least that's the case there in old Digby town
     You jump to the ratlines to get to the deck
     But watch that first step, or you might break your neck!

We invited the town, all of Digby came down
To see them two schooners so gaffy
Together, some two hundred years they'd been 'round
But never with crews quite so daffy.
But gettin' the folks from the docks to the decks
Without compound fractures of backs, heads and necks
Was as tricky as gettin' 'em back to the docks
With the water behavin' like Panama Locks.

Well, I'm happy tell that nobody fell
Although there weren't no good solutions;
For the rollin' and  twitchin' and tossin' and pitchin'
In time to the tide's evolution.

It came down to a case of schooner elevation
An oceanic reaction to lunar agitation
And whether a little old lady mught ruin her vacation
By bustin' her bum on the decks.

(Final four lines semi-spoken with extreme rubato)
Note: Reportedly, a retelling of a reportedly true happening in
     1990. Digby has an over-25-foot tide.
Sung by Goux and Sulanowski
RG

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!