Here’s to the Boys

© G.J. Griffin, 1989

Vocal, acoustic guitar, tremolo electric guitar and lap steel guitar – Gerry Griffin / Background vocal, Appalachian dulcimer – Heather Houston / Background vocal, Cara Griffin / Dan-bro guitar (“banjo” part) – Terry Tufts / Bass – Richard Ewald / Drums – Scott Donnelly

This song alludes to how some fishermen coped with the depletion of our Canadian fish resources. Our east coast fishermen had to sit back and watch as Japan, Portugal, and Spain fished out the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in a few short years while our government did nothing to stop them and even less to help the victims – the fishermen themselves. When first discovered by the Europeans the resource was deemed to be enough fish to feed the entire world forever.

Here’s to the boys of the eastern shore wherever they may be
It’s a hard life on the coast they say, a dollar hides there easily
His grandfather and father too, had made their livings like their sons
Smuggling goods carried to and from St. Pierre and Miquelon.

And the mothers pray for children
Swallowed by the briny sea
Here’s to the boys of the eastern shore
Wherever they may be.

His ancestors had carried booze to subsidize the family cause
His kids had done without too long to care just what the cargo was
The nature of the beast he carried was without a heart and soul
A scarab was to meet the trawler two miles east of devil’s hole.

And the mothers pray for children
As they have thousands of years
Here’s to the boys of the eastern shore
Wherever they may be.

Sometimes he wondered if his nets would ever filled by God
Now he sees the Portuguese and Spanish have all the cod
Lobster’s not plentiful as it was not long ago
The smuggler’s boat can take home far more tuna than they can know.

And the mothers pray for children
Swallowed by the briny sea
Here’s to the boys of the eastern shore
Wherever they may be.

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