Track 7. Emma Louise

This was a song I wrote in the paper mill, late one night on a very hot day. Emma Louise was a boat I imagined – really a combination of two sail boats that I knew at the time. The thing that struck me was the idea of not being able to continue doing what you want to do. This song must be at least 30 years old already- but I still remember vividly how it got me through a very long shift!

Oh my Emma Louise, she sails with the breeze, all out on the sea in the night of my dreams. Oh my Emma Louise she sails with the breeze does my Emma Louise.

She plied the west coast, that little sail boat, with coal and timber, as she flew like a bird. Oh my Emma Louise she sails with the breeze does my Emma Louise.

Let the wind fill her sails, as she heaves to and fro in the storms and the gales as we tack our way home. From Steart to Steepholm she used to roam, on the sea and the foam, all out on her own.

Oh my Emma Louise she sails with the breeze does my Emma Louise.

She’s the last of her kind, and the end of the line. And she’s seen better times, with her hull full of lime. Oh my Emma Louise she sails with the breeze does my Emma Louise.

Let the wind fill her sails, as she heaves to and fro in the storms and the gales as we tack our way home.

Now she’s run aground in Appledore sound. In the mud and the clay, that’s where she lays. Oh my Emma Louise she sails with the breeze does my Emma Louise.

But I’m old and grey, and I can’t sail away. I stand on the quay and I yearn for the sea. Oh my Emma Louise she sails with the breeze does my Emma Louise.

Let the wind fill her sails, as she heaves to and fro in the storms and the gales as we tack our way home. Oh my Emma Louise she sails with the breeze does my Emma Louise.