Get Her Into Shore

By Larry Kaplan
  1. We set our traps in the bitter cold
    It was the third day of the year
    There were three of us then, we were the youngest of ten
    Two for lines and one for gear
    When it blows northeast on the Georges Bank
    You don’t like to take your time
    But the engine was old, she didn’t like the cold
    And we fell back on our line.Chorus
    Get her into shore, she can’t take it anymore
    She’s too far from home it’s gonna break her bones
    Can’t you get her into shore.
  2. Jack throws the switch he says, The old sonofabitch
    What the Hell do you think you’re doing
    You brought us to the poor house too many times
    You ain’t takin’ us to our ruin
    But the line went slack we felt the stern turn back
    And she started up again
    But she just tightened up and I knew we were stuck
    Lyin’ broadside to the wind.
  3. Tom put the helm over to run with the tide
    But she fell into the trough
    And with her side to the swell she leaned in and fell
    And I knew we all were lost
    And I that I saw was her rotten old keel
    With that rope flung across her stern
    And I couldn’t hold to her, and I couldn’t go down
    I just wished I’d never been born.
  4. Now the tide runs hard in the wintertime
    You’re a fool to go and try
    God bless the poor man who was born on the sea
    God save the poor men, who die.
Lyrics from the recording: