Columbia River Bar (National Weather Service Portland)

ASTORIA BAR
by Mary Garvey
Sung by Matt Moeller
at the Couth Buzzard Bookstore, Seattle, Jan. 14, 2011.
Pacific Northwest Folklore Society Coffeehouse Concert
 

It's not very far to Astoria's bar
But a very long journey it can be --
It can start at the mouth of the mighty blue river
And end at the bottom of the sea.

When the tide is rough, so very, very rough,
So rough that you cannot stand;
It drives the little fish right into the nets,
The boats right into the sand.

In the mist and the rain, the labor and the pain
We know what the fishing here is worth --
It is worth more than gold as we suck 'em from the hold;
It is worth all the treasures of the earth.

And the river still shines and shimmers in the light
As it did in my grandfather's day
When they rowed all night and fished in the morning
And lived in Willapa Bay.

Pacific Nothwest Folklore Society