The Widowmaker
Words & Music by John Conolly
(Recorded by Tom Lewis on Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Singer!)
When The Widowmaker Wind howls up the
river,
When the sky falls dark and heavy to the rolling of the tide,
When you lie awake and listen to the wind blow,
When you wish you'd never been a sailor's bride.
For wives and mothers all along the coastline,
It's another day of darkness and another night of fear,
For it's 'Gale Force 9' and black ice in the Faroes,
December is the deadly time of year.
It's hard to be both mother and a father,
A lonely woman struggling to rear a growing lad,
And your heart sinks every time he tries to tell you,
He wants to go to sea just like his dad.
So in between the kissing and the cursing,
You try to make a home where he can grow up straight and free,
But there's no way you can keep him there forever,
You know someday you'll lose him to the sea.
When your man comes home with money in his pocket,
It's like the sun come shining through the clouds and through
the rain,
Now the time has come to do your share of living ,
In two days he'll be outward bound again.
The laughing and the loving and the drinking,
Are moments to forget the nights you lay alone and cried,
For tonight you'll be a queen but come tomorrow,
He's sailing on the early morning tide.
When The Widowmaker's howling up the river,
When the sky falls dark and heavy to the rolling of the tide,
When you lie awake and listen to the wind blow,
Do you wish you'd never been a sailor's bride?
