Artist: Billy Joel Album: Storm Front Song: The Downeaster Alexa Year: 1989 Top Chart Position: unknown

Well I'm on the Downeaster Alexa And I'm cruising through Rock Island Sound I have chartered a course to the Vineyard But tonight I am Nantucket bound We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday And left this morning from the bell in Gardner's Bay Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the bone So I could own my Downeaster "Alexa" And I go where the ocean is deep There are giants out there in the canyons And a good captain can't fall asleep I've got bills to pay and children who need clothes I know there's fish out there but where God only knows They say these waters aren't what they used to be But I've got people back on land who count on me So if you see my Downeaster "Alexa" And if you work with the rod and the reel Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis And I still have my hands on the wheel Now I drive my Downeaster "Alexa" More and more miles from shore every year Since they told me I can't sell no stripers And there's no luck in swordfishing here I was a bayman like my father was before Can't make a living as a bayman anymore There ain't much future for a man who works the sea But there ain't no island left for islanders like me

Much like Cafe On The Corner, The Downeaster Alexa is about a man who knows only one job, and his line of work is in danger of extinction. The narrator of the song is a man who fishes for a living, and it is looking like that occupation is not going to be around for much longer. Although he is still catching fish and making a little money, he has to go "more and more miles from shore every year." In addition, new laws regarding fishing prompted by environmentalists are damaging him financially. This also represents the dying of a family tradition, because the narrator says, "I was a bayman like my father was before/Can't make a living as a bayman anymore." Most likely, the narrator’s children will not follow in their father’s footsteps.