Lyrics to
Christian Island

This version of Christian Island was released by Gordon Lightfoot in 1972.

Our About Gordon Lightfoot page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Christian Island from 1972 as well as all of the other lyrics from Gordon Lightfoot that we have in our lyrics database.

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I’m sailin’ down the summer wind,
I got whiskers on my chin,
and I like the mood I’m in,
as I while away the time of day,
in the lee of Christian Island.

Tall and strong, she dips and reels,
I call her Silver Heels,
and she tells me how she feels.
She’s a good old boat and she’ll stay afloat,
through the toughest gail and keep smilin’,
but for one more day she would like to stay,
in the lee of Christian Island.

I’m sailin’ down the summer day,
where fish and seagulls play,
I put my troubles all away.
And when the gail comes up I’ll fill me cup,
with the whiskey of the highlands.
She’s a good old ship and she’ll make the trip,
from the lee of Christian Island.

Tall and strong she slips along,
I sing for her a song,
and she leans into the wind.
She’s a good old boat and she’ll stay afloat,
through the toughest gail and keep smilin’,
and when the summer ends we will rest again,
in the lee of Christian Island.

and when the summer ends we will rest again,
in the lee of Christian Island.

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Gordon Lightfoot has released many songs over the years besides Christian Island. Gordon Lightfoot released songs from 1966 to 2004 spanning across albums like Lightfoot!, The Way I Feel, Back Here On Earth, Did She Mention My Name, Sunday Concert, Sit Down Young Stranger / If You Could Read My Mind, Summer Side Of Life, Don Quixote, Old Dan's Records, Sundown, Cold On The Shoulder, Summertime Dream, Endless Wire, Dream Street Rose, Shadows, Salute, East Of Midnight, Waiting For You, A Painter Passing Through, and Harmony. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Gordon Lightfoot.

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About Lyrics and Christian Island by Gordon Lightfoot

The lyrics to Christian Island are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Gordon Lightfoot used when the song was created in 1972. The lyrics to Christian Island have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Gordon Lightfoot and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Christian Island by Gordon Lightfoot. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Christian Island" means the words set to the music of Christian Island, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Gordon Lightfoot. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Christian Island and the lyrics to Christian Island are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Gordon Lightfoot who came here looking just for the lyrics to Christian Island, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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