Good people, come and listen, a sad story I will tell,
Of Eighty-seven fishermen, good men we all know well,
Who left their homes in April to sail the raging seas,
To reap the ocean's harvest that feedeth you and me.

Their hearts were light within them to hoist those fleecy sails,
And soon they left the harbor to catch the pleasant gales,
But down on Sable Island, where those angry waves do rage
Those eighty-seven fishermen all met their watery graves.

For many miles before them they saw those angry waves,
And soon their vessels foundered beneath their sandy graves.
The have left us here in sorrow to live and earn our bread
And by God's help, good people, I know we'll all be fed.

Their bodies now lie sleeping beneath that quick and rolling sand;
Their spirits are in heaven with that bright and happy band.
No more they'll hoist those topsails or fight the raging seas,
But on that bright eternal day they'll dwell where all is free.

On the ninth day of October, in memory of our dead,
Five thousand gathered in Lunenburg, by the band we all were led.
The harbor it was scattered with flowers sweet and fair,
And all denominations united there in prayer.

To Him who rules us from on high with His almighty hand,
Grant to us on this Judgement Day united we may stand
Where soul and body meet again, where pain and sorrow cease.
O, May we meet together there and dwell in endless peace!

Come all you good people and listen unto me
I'll tell you of a tragedy that happened on the sea
On the 18th day of January as the sun went down
The Zubenelgenubi sailed out of Newport Town

She was duly built and fitted, seaworthy, it was said
Her skipper was Steve Goodwin from out of Marblehead
He was able, strong, confident, he'd fished for 20 years
Like all brave souls upon the sea, he had respect and fear

A fisherman's life was the life for me
I made my living out on the sea
Some call me fool, some call me brave
Now I rest in a watery grave

Aside from Captain Goodwin the crew did number three
There was Newport's own Steve Kelly, a fine young man was he;
Steve Haynes and Candace Stewart, oh they made up the crew
They hauled the traps far off the shore where the pleasures they are few

And they headed for Nantucket on a week to 10-day trip
Once out the winds did howl, the barometer did dip
And the winds that lashed about, ail off New England's shore
After 10 days out we heard not one word more

(Chorus)

Winds lashed out fury, on destruction they were bent
While we in our warm houses, we waited for some news
There came no word or message of that boat or of her crew

Finally Goodwin's wife all on the 18th day
No longer could she stand, no longer could delay
She called upon the Coast Guard to search the ocean wide
And North to South and East to West, 'though nothing there was spied

Whatever was the fate of that boat or her crew
Will perhaps never be known to the likes of me or you
But we'll drink now unto them, wherever they may be
And all brave souls who risk their lives all on the ragin' sea

(Chorus)

Goodbye, my feleni, o le a ou tea
Ae folau le vaa, o le Alii pule me-le-te,
Nei galo mai A-pi-a, si ota e-le e-le,
Ae maga-tu-a mai [n]ea, le au pa-se-se.

Oh, I ne-ver will forget you, Samoa ele ele galoatu,
Oh I never will forget you, Samoa eleatu

Faa foga foga, mai Samoa uma,
Sai fai atu, o lau faa tusa, pei o le sulu saga,
I totonu o maga, faapea lau pele,
Mai taupou uma.