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The Million Dollar Line

from From Boston Harbor by Crosscurrents Music

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about

I did my first trick at the wheel in the merchant marine as an Enrichment Lecturer on a luxury cruise to Newfoundland and Labrador. It was 1991. There were no fish, the Labrador Straits never saw ice out, and the nascent tourism industry hoped for an Atlantic route worthy of the Inside Passage from Vancouver to Anchorage. I sailed the Boston to Quebec route again in 2019, but the Newfoundland and Labrador leg seems to have fallen prey to the little black fly. Everything in this song is still true, although prices have been updated.

lyrics

They say a sailor's life is very hard
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
And the food is always bad
Well, I've come here to tell you
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
That there's better to be had.
For I shipped aboard a vessel
The finest ever seen
And I found a place that's better than
The food in Fiddler's Green.

CHORUS:
So haul on your sequins,
We're cruising with the tide
It's a damn tough life for a rich man's wife
On the Million Dollar Line.

The captain vas from Norvay
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
Vit an accent so refined.
On caviar and champagne
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
He kept us wined and dined.
The waiters all were Germans
Knew the right wine for each glass
The crew was Filipino
Always polishing the brass. CHORUS

The cook was from Vienna
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
And he wore a white chef's hat.
His sauces were perfection
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
His soufflés were never flat.
There was salmon, steak and lobster
Six courses every day
And seven kinds of chocolate
On the French pâtisserie tray. CHORUS

There's no diesel, shale or whale oil
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
Just wine and French perfume
And there's nothing wee and nothing dark
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
About the big bright engine room.
The bathtubs are of marble
Two sinks in every suite
And all the bunks are queensize
With freshly ironed sheets. CHORUS

Aloft is the casino
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
Three bars and cabaret
In the hot tub on the fo'c'sle
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
They'll serve you canapés.
There's entertainment nightly
A Broadway hits revue
Be nice to all the widows
Buy each a drink or two. CHORUS

There's executives and lawyers
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
And a Texas millionaire.
A Harlequin romancer
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
Won a contest to be there.
Try a guided shore excursion
Salmon fishing in the fjord
Our travel office caters
To the professionally bored. CHORUS

Sail from New York or Frisco
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
For India or Japan
And then come home around the Horn
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
On our extended plan.
Or become a Suite Potato
With room service and bar
You can sail the seven seas
And never notice where you are. CHORUS

So leave your gold card with the purser
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
And he'll collect your pay
And everything's included
(timme way-hey-hey-AH!)
Eighteen hundred bucks a day.
So steal the last mint from the pillow,
For tonight we're homeward bound
With a suitcase full of menus
And an extra fifteen pounds. CHORUS twice

(last time)
Yes, I'll haul out my sequins
We're cruisin' with the tide
It's a damn tough life for a poor man's wife
On the Million Dollar Line.

credits

from From Boston Harbor, released June 9, 2022
© Lynn Noel

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Crosscurrents Music Boston, Massachusetts

Lynn Noel brings traditional song and heritage arts online to create community. Lynn has a voice of striking clarity and power, equally at home in rhythmic chanteys and flowing ballads.

Lynn is a respected song session leader on both sides of the Atlantic and the producer and host of the Mermaid's Tavern online folk club. She is currently Program Chair of the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA). ... more

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