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

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.

Chorus...