Fishermen don't put your boats out to sea there's a storm on the rise. The tide's on the turn and the wind's come away there's turmoil ahead in the sky it could be a day or a week or an age as we wait for the gale to come round there's mouths to be fed and there's bills to be paid before we return to the ground
All along the key at Peterhead, the lassies stand around Wae their shawls aw poo'd aboot them, and their sawt tears runnin' doon Oh don't you weep my bonnie lass though you be left behind For the rose will grow on Greenland's ice before we change your mind
Chorus... Roll the ocean, roll the sea Roll the ocean, roll the sea
Living's not easy with quotas cut down and prices so low on the key To sell up and move on could be the best way if we knew more than life on the sea As the trawlers have all got their satcom and sonar it's hard toil with hauler and creel And the smaller boats forced into trecharous waters the inner lochs long ago gleened
Chorus...
The ocean's a safe place for each man and all if treated with care and respect But with tie-ups and curfews enforced in more sectors you've got to chance fate on the decks Captain and crew are all one and the same when it comes down to sharing the pay For the harder your toil and the longer your steam the more chance of taking a wage.