Twenty young women were there on the dock
From an orphanage East of Paris
Girls without fathers now King Louis' daughters
Who'd chosen to cross the wide sea
Nervous and hopeful, no strangers to toil
They'll do well in the new lives they'll lead
As honourable wives in a place called Quebec
They're not meant for a sailor like me
Nineteen young women asleep in their bunks
But one up on deck here with me
She's watching the stars with the wind in hair
And she tells me her name is Marie
No stranger to laughter, no stranger to joy
And a spirit as wild as the sea
She'll make a man happy in distant Quebec
But he won't be a sailor like me
Thirty long days from the broad (something in French)
And the other girls scarce have been seen
But Marie's gone and learned all the terms of the trade
And her feet found the roll of the sea
All the boys love her and everyone jokes
That her smiles carry more than I've seen
I don't know what she wants in la vil de Quebec
But she can't want a sailor like me.
But I've borrowed a ring from my friend Tiroberre
And the boys have all left us alone
And I've asked what she'd think of a life in the town
And a husband who's not always home
Then she's laughed and she's kissed me
And told me that love is more precious than land on la vil
Thank God that she chose to go out to Quebec
And she wanted a sailor like me
