Billy Joel – The Downeaster Alexa (Guitar)

Key
-
Versions (2)

Auto-scroll

Chords

G/B x20003 [Intro] Am - Em - G - Am 2x [Verse 1]
          C          G        Am
Well I'm on the Downeaster Alexa

          C               G            F
And I'm cruising through Block Island Sound.

         F         C           Dm
I have charted a course to the Vineyard,

        C         G         F       C - F
But tonight I am Nantucket bound.
[Chorus 1]
F             G            C              F
 We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday,

F               G                Am               G/B
 And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay.

F              G               C                F
 Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home,

F               G                 Am            G/B
 Too proud to leave, I worked my fingers to the bone
[Verse 2]
            C          G        Am
So I could own my Downeaster Alexa

       C            G        F
And I go where the ocean is deep.

           F          C            Dm
There are giants out there in the canyons,

       C            G            F      C - F
And a good captain can't fall asleep.
[Chorus 2]
F       G               C                  F
 I got bills to pay and children who need clothes.

F                G                  Am              G/B
 I know there's fish out there but where, God only knows.

F                G            C                  F
 They say these waters aren't what they used to be.

F              G              Am               G/B
 But I've got people back on land who count on me.
[Bridge]
           C          G        Am
So if you see my Downeaster Alexa

            C             G           F
And if you work with the rod and the reel,

         F         C           Dm
Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis,

       C             G            F
And I still have my hands on the wheel.
[Instrumental Bridge] Am - Em - G - Am 2x Em - Bm - D - Em 2x Am - Em - G - Am 2x [Verse 3]
        C           G        Am
Now I drive my Downeaster Alexa

          C               G           F
More and more miles from shore ev'ry year,

            F         C             Dm
Since they told me I can't sell no stripers.

            C           G             F
And there's no luck in sword fishing here.
[Chorus 3]
F         G              C              F
 I was a bayman like my father was before.

F              G          Am         G/B
 Can't make a living as a bayman anymore

F                  G           C                   F
 There ain't much future for a man who works the sea.

F                    G               Am            G/B
 But there ain't no island left for islanders like me.
[Ending]
         C   G  Am
Ya, ya, yaa aaa yo

         C   G  Am
Ya, ya, yaa aaa yo

         C   G  Am
Ya, ya, yaa aaa yo

         C   G  Am
Ya, ya, yaa aaa yo