1

Cove Anthony
1970-1990
South East Bight, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Canada


Credits:
Mary (Ward) Brewer

2

Blow Below The Belt

I'm sitting here on Harvey's Pier in the city of St. John's,
I'm thinking back on South East Bight the place where I was born;
I'm thinking back on Placentia Bay where all our people left,
After signing up that Government plan, the blow below the belt.

'Twas in the year of sixty-six the day I won't forget,
The government plan was passed around, I can see the paper yet;
Sign it if you want to, reject it if you like,
The rules and regulations are there in black and white.

Two hundred for each person, a thousand to freeze your land,
Your house and property is your own, you may sell it if you can;
Some beautiful homes were left behind for what else could we do?
If you asked someone to buy your home, they'd say they were leaving, too.

Smallwood, he got on the air, each word he spoke seemed great,
"Haul up your punts and dories, destroy your stage and flakes;
I'm moving you away from here, employment sure you'll find,
And you won't regret that day you left those outports far behind."

When fifty percent of the people the Government plan did sign,
The other fifty had no choice, 'twas go or be left behind;
We moved in all directions, all around our native coast,
And we bid good-bye to our home-sweet-homes, the places we cherished most.

After we resettled everything seemed pretty odd,
Us independent fishermen, we could not find a job;
But when elections rolled around we showed Joey how we felt,
We dropped him in his corner, and gave Frank Moores the belt.

There's one man's name I'll mention, I'm sure that he won't mind,
That gentleman's name is Pius Power, he is a real good friend of mine;
He moved from Clattice Harbour back to the place I left,
He would not sign the dotted line, that blow below the belt.

He's an independent fisherman, everything he got he owns,
Fishing gear of many kinds, a schooner twenty tons;
He is as friendly a chap as ever you met and he'll tell you how he felt,
Why he would not sign the dotted line, the blow below the belt.

Now to conclude and finish, I'm still on Harvey's Pier,
A gazing through the narrows, o'er the sleepy ocean near;
I'm an employee at the Waterford, I'm lucky sure myself,
That I didn't end up a patient from the blow below the belt.