My Father's Old Sou'Wester

My memory often wandered back
When I was but a lad;
When the boats came in from fishing
I ran to meet my dad.
He would take his old sou'wester off and throw it ashore to me;
And I would put it on my head
How happy I would be.

cho: My father's old sou'wester
He wore in days gone by;
And every time he put it on
His face would beam with joy.
It reminds me of the happy days
Those happy days of old,
I would not part with that old hat
For the full of it in gold.

He wore it every Sunday
He never liked a cap.
He wore it every Monday
When he went to haul the trap;
He wore it in the sunshine
He wore it in the rain,
On Sunday and on Monday
He wore it just the same.

If that old hat could only speak
What stories it would tell;
Would tell you of many's the time
He fought the raging swell.
It would tell you of the happy time
Out on the squiddin' ground.
Wherever that my father went
It was perched up on his crown.

And now he's dead and laid to rest,
He'll wear it nevermore.
For there's no stormy weather
Over on the other shore.
He said to me before he died,
"There's one request I'll make:
Go take my old sou'wester hat
And wear it for my sake."

from Old-Time Songs of Newfoundland, Doyle
RG
oct97