We're taking on water

Diesel and stores

Laying up awhile

Before I'm back on board

They're patching her up

To go fishing again

They're welding her rudder

Scrubbing her keel

Scars on her belly

Need time to heal

In the dock

With the trawlermen



I know all the people

There's nobody new

Soon we'll be leaving

With the same old crew

On the green water

The tumbling sea

They ain't running

Like the good old days

Time's just slipping

Down the old slipways

In the dock

So dear to me



Dark is the night

I need a guiding light

To keep me

From foundering

On the rocks

My only prayer

Is just to see you there

At the end

Of my wandering

Back in the dock



I could use a layoff

Getting my strength back

But there's a loan to pay off

And a few skipjack

So it's a turnaround

Back in the southerly wind

Pirates coming in

To steal our gold

You can count yourself lucky

With a profit in the hold

In the dock

When we come in



Dark is the night

I need a guiding light

To keep me

From foundering

On the rocks

My only prayer

Is just to see you there

At the end

Of my wandering

Back in the dock