Cold is she The cold North Sea She'll howl and she'll heave And will not be subdued So raise up your glass To those who have seen her From no friendly shore But East, East of Aberdeen Four hundred miles I travelled to labour To the Grey Granite City In the far, far north I found myself alone In bars with no women Just men who have been East, East of Aberdeen At the heliport we stewed, Held by stormy weather We sweated in our suits Too tired to do much talking We smoked and we laughed But the wind was out there mocking As we waited for our flight To East, East of Aberdeen The first few days Will never be forgot Ye work and ye work And ye never seemed to stop It'd be a Hell on earth But the real Hell is the water That thunders through your dreams When you're East, East of Aberdeen As Like a wee toy The standby boat is bobbing Their three month trip Must send their brains to God They only get them back When they've drunk themselves sober And then they'll be broke And East, East of Aberdeen The flares o the Innes Burn like wee candles In the huge night sky There is nothing else to see And if ever you felt Humbled and Holy It's alone with these lights When you're East, East of Aberdeen Our flare burns like gold, Gold and restless amber It lights up the sky The rigging and the gantry Then O'er endless skies The Northern Lights come dancing There's angels in your dreams East, east of Aberdeen Three weeks you're on And your relief, he bumps you Dressed in your suit But no place to go But back down below To fourteen hours of grafting And you curse and you swear East, East of Aberdeen And you lie in your bunk And think of your woman Is she lying alone? Or sharing her sorrow And the wind it sighs It's the voice of a lover But a lover who lies East, East of Aberdeen And Cold is she The cold North Sea She'll howl and she'll heave And will not be subdued So raise up your glass To those who have seen her From no friendly shore But East, East of Aberdeen