Standard (EADGBE)
Leave the land behind, laddie, you've better days to find
The companies have the money and they'll soon teach you the skills
Green fields far away, laddie, the forties and the brae
Be a mudman or a roustabout, you'll soon learn how to drill
But who will tend the sheep when I'm far o'er the deep?
On the Neptune or the Seaquest when the snow comes to the hill
la la la la lala la la la la laa
la la la la la lala laa la la la la la laaa
Leave the fishing trade, laddie, there's money to be made
The hand-line and the Shetland yawl are from a bygone day
Come to Aberdeen, laddie; sights you've never seen!
Be a welder on the pipeline or a fitter at Nigg Bay
But when the job is o'er and my boat rots on the shore
How will I feed my family when the companies move away?
There's harbours to be built, lads, rigs to tow and tilt
To rest upon the ocean bed, like pylons in the sea
Pipelines to be laid and a hundred different trades
That will pay a decent living wage to the likes of you and me
I ken you're men of worth; you're the best that's in the north
Not men of greed, but men who need the work that's come your way
From Flotta to Kishorn a new industry is born
Now Peterhead and Cromarty will never be the same