1997Released
3:42

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about The Downeaster 'Alexa'. By Songfacts®.

This song is about the fishermen in Oyster Bay, Long Island, which is near Joel's home. Written from the perspective of a struggling fisherman, the song is accurate in its description of the various places the vessel would travel. The song brought a lot of attention to the challenges these fishermen faced and the hard work they put into their jobs.

Joel owned a boat at the time called "The Alexa." It was named after his daughter, Alexa Ray. Like her father, Alexa is also a musician.

Boating is one of Joel's favorite hobbies. He often makes nautical references in his songs, and his personal management company is called Maritime Music.

Top Listeners

Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of The Downeaster 'Alexa'.
AKey
MinorMode
4/4Time Signature
89BPM

Album

The album The Downeaster 'Alexa' is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released The Downeaster 'Alexa'.
Columbia
This compilation (P) 1997 Sony Music Entertainment

See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.

Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.

6MArtists
75.3MSongs
12.8MAlbums
6.5KGenres
2.6MLabels
495.3KPlaylists