Almanac Music: ‘Everybody’s building ships and boats’ – Songs Involving Watercraft
Rotterdam Ferry-Boat, by J. M. W. Turner, oil on canvas, 1833. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: ‘Everybody’s building ships and boats’ – Songs Involving Watercraft
Hi, Almanackers! This week’s piece in my ongoing series about key popular song themes concerns songs that involve watercraft – any craft in this category is fitting, including ships, boats, yachts and the actual names of these, whether it be the category name, such as destroyer, or the name of, for example, a leisure or racing yacht. In addition, any song with a clear, direct connection to watercraft (e.g. it mentions sailing) is relevant. If in doubt, go with your own considered judgement – songs that involve watercraft are the key words.
Watercraft have been been selected for our theme mainly because of their interesting use in popular song in all sorts of ways, such as association with literal and metaphorical journeys, and, more broadly, for their often evocative use in poetic terms.
So, dear readers, please put your relevant songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to get things going. (The years mentioned relate to the release date of the version of the song concerned.)
‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’, written by Gerry Marsden, performed by Gerry and the Pacemakers (1964)
‘this land’s the place I love’
‘Sloop John B’, traditional (arranged by Brian Wilson), performed by the Beach Boys (1966)
‘I wanna go home’
‘The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)’, written and performed by Bob Dylan (1967)
‘Everybody’s building ships and boats’
‘Sailing’, written by Gavin Sutherland, performed by Rod Stewart (1975)
‘I am sailing, I am sailing / Home again ‘cross the sea’
‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’, written and performed by Gordon Lightfoot (1976)
‘That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed / When the gales of November came early’
‘Blue Bayou’, written by Joe Melson and Roy Orbison, performed by Linda Ronstadt (1977)
‘those fishing boats / with their sails afloat’
‘Six Months in a Leaky Boat’, written by Tim Finn and Split Enz, performed by Split Enz (1982)
‘I remember you by, thunderclap in the sky’
‘Islands in the Stream’, written by Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, performed by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers (1983)
‘Sail away with me / To another world’
‘Highwayman’, written by Jimmy Webb, performed by The Highwaymen (1985)
‘I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico’
‘Orinoco Flow’, written by Enya and Roma Ryan, performed by Enya (1988)
‘Sail away, sail away, sail away’
……………………………………………..
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song (or songs) involving watercraft, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
[Note: as usual, Wikipedia has been a good general reference for this piece, particularly in terms of checking dates and other details.]
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
‘Look out, mama, there’s a white boat coming up the river
With a big red beacon, and a flag, and a man on the rail’
Powderfinger (1979) by Crazy Horse & Neil Young
As an aside, thank goodness for the Mighty Quinn, who in these dark hours makes everybody jump for joy.
Great topic KD – I’ll think we’ll have heaps of joy with this one.
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Powderfinger’, and, more generally, for opening the batting in relation to our new ‘watercraft’ theme.
Glad you love the topic – I believe it will be an exciting (and often joyful) one, too!
“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”, by The Beatles (“Picture yourself in a boat on a river.”)
Downstream: Supertramp
Wooden ships: Crosby Stills and Nash
When the ship comes in: The Hillmen
For my lady: Moody Blues (“My boat sails stormy seas”)
Twist of the knife: Electric Light Orchestra Part II (“Just like ships passing in the night, who knows where they’re going?”)
Livin’ thing: Electric Light Orchestra (“Sailing away on the crest of a wave”)
Hold on tight: Electric Light Orchestra (“When you see your ship go sailing”)
Take me on and on: Electric Light Orchestra (Sail upon the ocean, sail back to me)
Jeff Lynne: Blown away (“I’m blown away like a boat out on the ocean”)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Wildflowers (“You belong in a boat out at sea, sail away, kill off the hours”)
The lady don’t mind: Talking Heads (“Little boat that floats on a river, it’s drifting through a haze”)
Thanks, Anon, for ‘Lucy’ – great opening choice!
Excellent range of material, Liam. Many thanks. To select one for comment -‘The Lady Don’t Mind’. What a great song! The more time has passed, the more I like Talking Heads – and I liked them to begin with.
Troublesome Waters, Iris Dement (courtesy of The Carter Family)
If I had a Boat, Lyle Lovett
Boats to Build, Guy Clark
The Refugee Song, Dave Warner (from 1979, still pertinent today)
9 to 5, Dolly
“Toast and Marmalade for Tea”, by Tin Tin (“Toast and marmalade for tea, sailing ships upon the sea.”)
The Mary Ellen Carter – Stan Rogers
Rogers was one of the great Canadian folksinger songwriters. He deserves to be classed with Gordon Lightfoot, and Ian Tyson but isn’t because he died very young. (Thanks Kevin for posting The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald)
First verse of Mary Ellen Carter
“She went down last October in a pouring driving rain
The skipper, he’d been drinking and the Mate, he felt no pain
Too close to Three Mile Rock, and she was dealt her mortal blow
And the Mary Ellen Carter settled low
There was just us five aboard her when she finally was awash
We’d worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost
And the groan she gave as she went down, it caused us to proclaim
That the Mary Ellen Carter’d rise again”
Lots more to come after I have lunch.
Shrimp Boats – Jo Stafford
River Lady (Little Goodbye) – Roger Whittaker
Little Red Rented Rowboat – Joe Dowell
The Roving Kind (She was nothing but a Pirate Ship) – Guy Mitchell
Beyond the Sea – Bobby Darin
When the Boat Comes In (Dance to the Daddy) – Bob Fox
On a Slow Boat to China – Frank Sinatra
Let’s Get Away from it All – Frank Sinatra
The Ship Song (1990) – Nick Cave
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down.
We make a little history baby
Every time you come around.
Thanks, Rick, for your foray into ‘watercraft’ waters. ‘9 to 5’ came as a bit of a surprise – but here’s the second verse (as you obviously know):
‘They let you dream just to watch ’em shatter
You’re just a step on the bossman’s ladder
But you’ve got dreams he’ll never take away
In the same boat with a lot of your friends
Waitin’ for the day your ship’ll come in
And the tide’s gonna turn an’ it’s all gonna roll your way’
Thank you, Anon, for ‘Toast and Marmalade for Tea’.
Many thanks, Dave, for your comments – I will have to listen to ‘The Mary Ellen Carter’.
And, oh, yes, what a powerful song is ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ – what plangency that number possesses!
I look forward to your further input.
Thanks, Fisho – great start to our new theme!
Thank you for the Nick Cave song, Karl.
Collectively, we’re off to a fine start with this theme!
The Glass Bottom Boat – Doris Day
Calypso – John Denver
Banana Boat Song – Harry Belafonte
Fallin’ (Like I was fallin’ off Niagra in a paddle boat canoe) – Connie Francis
Together (the boat rides on the lake) – Connie Francis
“Sailing”, by Christopher Cross, which of course is a completely different version to the original playlist of “Sailing”, by Rod Stewart.
“Yellow Submarine”, by The Beatles (“In a town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea, and he told us of his life in the land of submarines.”)
“Don’t Pay the Ferryman”, by Chris de Burgh (“Don’t pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side.”)
There is a Ship – Peter, Paul and Mary
Little Boat – The Springfields
Carra Barra Wirra Canna – Rolf Harris
“Row Row Row Your Boat”, nursery rhyme song
“Rock the Boat”, by The Hues Corporation
Sink the Bismark – Johnny Horton
I Saw Three Ships – Nat King Cole
Sail Away – Enya
“The Love Boat” television theme song, by Jack Jones
Not too many folk songs about glass (apart from drinking songs) but sea shanties are a major category of folk songs and I could probably bore the pants off you if I really wanted to. This post is dedicated to the late Danny Spooner whose shanties by the wharf was one of the highlights of the Port Fairy Folk Festival for many years.
Whip Jamboree,
Haul on the Bowline
Leave her Johnnies
Hog-Eye Man
The Holy Ground
John Kanaka
Bound for South Australia
Rolling down to Old Maui
Greenland Whale Fisheries
Home Boys Home – I heard this first from the Dubliners (which is also where I first heard The Holy Ground)
“And it’s home boys home, home I’d like to be,
Home for a while in me own country,
Where the Oak and the Ash, and the bonny Rowan tree,
Are all growing greener in the old country.”
Plenty more shanties but I want to post some songs written in the Twentieth Century.
“Cool Change”, by Little River Band (“Sailing on the cool and bright clear water”)
Without Him (there’d be no rain to fill the sea to sail the boat) – Frankie Lane
There’s no Boat Like a Rowboat – Perry Como
Song of the Shrimp – Elvis Presley
We’re Coming in Loaded – Elvis Presley
What a Mouth (It was like a steamboat funnel) – Tommy Steel
“Bridge over Troubled Water”, by Simon & Garfunkel (“Sail on silver girl, sail on by.”)
Sail Away – Randy Newman (a song about slavers recruiting Africans)
The Voyager – Gary Shearston (about Australia’s worst peacetime maritime disaster, written two days after the event) “Oh I’ll sing you of a ship, Oh the Voyager was her name, Sent upon the sea to play war’s cruel game, Eighty-two men lie drowned with her now, Tell me why did they die, tell me what for and how.”
Pirate Jenny – Judy Collins (and lots of other people – its from The Threepenny Opera)
“And you see me kinda grinnin’ while I’m scrubbin’
And you wonder, “What’s she got to grin?”
And a ship, a black freighter
With a skull on its masthead
Will be comin’ in”
Anderson’s Coast – John Warner (I submitted a chorus from this in the Moon thread. It’s a great song about some convicts who escaped from Van Diemens Land only to run aground in West Gippsland
“We stole a vessel and all her gear
–And where are you, my Annie?
And from Van Diemen’s we north did steer
Till Bass Strait’s wild waves wrecked us here.”
The Sea Around Us – Dominic Behan – a rebel song by Brendan’s brother.
The sea, oh the sea, is the grá geal mo chroí
Long may it stay between England me
It’s a sure guarantee that some hour we’ll be free
Oh thank God we’re surrounded by water
The Shoals of Herring – Ewan McColl
“O it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbor I was faring
As a cabinboy on a sailing lugger
For to go and hunt the shoals of herring”
And Let’s have one rock song about a boat (possibly the best rock song written about a boat)
Proud Mary – Creedence Clearwater Revival
“(Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay”, by Otis Redding (“Watching the ships roll in”)
‘Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in the market down in New Orleans
Skydog slaver know he’s doin’ all right
Hear him whip the women, just around midnight’
Brown Sugar (1971) – The Rolling Stones
Christoper Columbus – Guy Mitchell (’51 version)
Shrimpin’ Sailing – Johnny Cash
Fast Boat to Sydney – Johnny Cash and June Carter
As Dave N has suggested, this is a popular topic in folk/Celtic music.
Off the top of my head, the following Pogues tracks mention boats and/or ships etc:
When the ship comes in (Dylan cover), The wake of the Medusa, South Australia, Irish Rover, The broad majestic Shannon, Greenland whale fisheries, The band played Waltzing Matilda, Boat train. Almost at the very top of the list is Phil Chevron’s “Thousands are sailing”, which speaks of the Irish immigrant experience in New York.
Better get this one in before others do.
Shipbuilding by little elvis but Robert Wyatt’s version rules supreme.
And is it a bit cheeky to put a Jimmy Buffett marker down, I’ll be back with a bunch of his songs later.
“Gilligan’s Island television theme song”. (“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship.”), (“The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed.”) and (“The ship aground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle.”)
Hey Rick – I’ve just been doing a list of Jimmy Buffett songs, but I’ll leave that for you & I’ll happily get back into my ‘Dylan box’! except I’ll mention Buffett’s ‘Something ‘Bout A Boat’.
Brilliant input, guys – it’s certainly been a busy afternoon in connection with the ‘watercraft’ theme!
I’ll respond roughly in order.
Thanks, Fisho, for your fine array of songs: on a personal level, to select but two, ‘Carra Barra Wirra Canna’ and ‘What a Mouth’ – the former, I first knew of from (ABC ?) radio music programs I listened to in class in primary school (but it wasn’t the Harris version); the latter, well it’s always been in the ether, in an English music hall comic way.
‘You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot’
You-re So Vain (1972) – Carly Simon
(I knew this would be a fun topic!)
Thank you, Anon, for your fine, eclectic bunch of numbers. ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’, to name but one, jumps out at me as an all-time classic, but you’ve certainly selected other beauties, too.
Much to reflect upon upon in your excellent recent song choices and comments, Dave N. Thanks so much for them.
A personal note: I know Danny Spooner’s shanties quite well, both from my early days at Deakin Uni (where I did my first degree, and where Danny had various involvements) and from somewhat later times at Port Fairy. In the best way, Danny sung with a pair of lungs that possessed the capacity of an enormous pair of blacksmith’s bellows!
Thank you for your recent material, Karl. Yes, you’ve certainly mentioned an all-time great ‘watercraft’ song in ‘You’re So Vain’, with its wonderful ‘walking onto a yacht’ bit!
Thanks, Smokie, for your quality input. I particularly liked its folk/Celtic emphasis.
Thanks, Rick, for your latest material.
I look forward to your upcoming Buffet collection!
‘As the Manly ferry cuts its way to Circular Quay
Hear the captain blow his whistle
So long she’s been away’
Reckless (1991) by James Reyne – a true Aussie classic!
Hey Karl, it was a bit cheeky of me so I appreciate you pausing on Jimmy. Ta
The only reason we got to see Jimmy Buffett live in Australia (well, Perth) was because we won the America’s Cup. As someone in that fair city who couldn’t give two hoots about a rich man’s plaything sport the win was meaningless, except for Jimmy touring. And he was AI on the jukebox. He tried touring a couple of years after the 1997 AC and we got front row seats for the Perth Entertainment Centre show that was then cancelled due to lack of sales. In 1992 he released a best of box-set with 4 CDs, entitled Boats, Beaches, Bars and Ballads. Note, boats lead this best of. He wrote or co-wrote 15 of the 17 songs on this CD. Here’s the track listing:
No. Title
1. “Son of a Son of a Sailor”
2. “Havana Daydreamin'”
3. “Mañana”
4. “Treat Her Like a Lady”
5. “Steamer”
6. “Jolly Mon Sing”
7. “Nautical Wheelers”
8. “Take It Back”
9. “On a Slow Boat to China”
10. “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes”
11. “Love and Luck”
12. “The Captain and the Kid”
13. “Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season”
14. “Boat Drinks”
15. “One Particular Harbour”
16. “A Pirate Looks at Forty”
17. “Lovely Cruise”
1987
“I See a Boat on the River”, by Boney M. It was a double A-side single with “My Friend Jack”, and was taken from their 1980 compilation album “The Magic of Boney M. – 20 Golden Hits.”
“Weather with You”, by Crowded House (“Well, there’s a small boat made of china, it’s going nowhere on the mantlepiece.”)
Congratulations on the Almanac Music Readers for reaching 50!
“Can’t Fight This Feeling”, by REO Speedwagon (‘It’s time to bring this ship into the shore and throw away the oars forever.”)
“Ships”, by Barry Manilow
More Money for You and Me (Sailing, sailing over the water blue) – The Four Preps
Theme from Maverick (Riverboat ring your bell)
“In the Navy”, by Village People (“In the navy yes, you can sail the seven seas.”)
The Water is Wide (give me a boat that can carry two) – Cliff Richard
Don’t Rock the Boat Dear – Dean Martin
Get on the Boat – Prince
On the Same Boat – Celine Dion
The Titanic – Leadbelly (Hudie Ledbetter) This is a blues that Ledbelly wrote about the Titanic. It was believed (erroneously) that Jack Johnson, the first Black World Heavyweight Champion had been refused a ticket on the ship because of his colour. Below are the first three verses.
“It was midnight on the sea,
Band playin’ “Nearer My God to Thee”
Cryin’, “Fare thee, Titanic, fare the well, ”
Titanic when it got its load,
Captain hollered, “All aboard, ”
Cryin’, “Fare thee, Titanic, fare the well, ”
Jack Johnson want to get on board,
Captain said, “I ain’t hauling no coal, ”
Cryin’, “Fare thee, Titanic, fare the well,’
Big River – Jimmy Nail This song is about the destruction of industry in Newcastle on Tyne in the1980s. Shipbuilding was the biggest industry along the Tyne and The Neptune Yards was one of the biggest shipbuilders.
“My father was a working man
He earned our living with his hands
He had to cross the river every day
He picked up a union card
Out of the Neptune yard”
The Thresher – Phil Ochs. Phil wrote two songs about Submarines that sank in the 1960s (both were nuclear subs)
“In Portsmouth town on the eastern shore
Where many a fine ship was born.
The Thresher was built
And the Thresher was launched
And the crew of the Thresher was sworn.
She was shaped like a tear
She was built like a shark
She was made to run fast and free.
And the builders shook their hands
And the builders shared their wine,
And thought that they had mastered the sea.
Yes, she’ll always run silent
And she’ll always run deep
Though the ocean has no pity
Though the waves will never weep
They’ll never weep.”
The Scorpion Departs but Never Returns – Phil Ochs
“Sailors climb the tree, up the terrible tree
Where are my shipmates have they sunk beneath the sea?
I do not know much, but I know this cannot be
It isn’t really, it isn’t really,
Tell me it isn’t really.”
Thanks for that fine song ‘Reckless’, Karl – good pickup, with its Manly Ferry reference.
Well, Rick, I have to say it – many thanks for the buffet of Buffett! Excellent!
Thank you for your latest song choices, Anon – some good uns there. While we’re on the topic of boats made of china a la ‘Weather with You’, here’s another, from ‘Ballroom Dancing’ (1982 – from the Tug of War LP), written and performed by Paul McCartney: ‘Well, I used to smile when I was a pup / Sailing down the Nile in a china cup’.
Thanks so much, Fisho, for your latest selections.
Thanks for your latest entry, Dave N; as usual, fine detailed comments and illuminating longish quotations which vividly convey a song’s specific content. (Your latest input also reminded me that there’s certainly a big sub-genre of songs involving the names of particular ships, boats, yachts and other watercraft, too – e.g. Titanic, Thresher, Scorpion.)
John Mayall died this past week at the very decent age of 90. He was a major force in British blues music from the early 60’s and continued to release albums until a few years ago. His early 60’s Bluesbreaker line-ups included Eric Clapton, John McVie, Peter Green & Mick Taylor. Earlier this year he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
His 1970 USA Union includes this song:
Deep Blue Sea
‘Take out a boat and paddle it around the bay
Pressures from the world seem to fade away’
Thanks, Karl – timely and highly fitting addition to our watercraft theme.
Too late to stop now, Kev
Into the Mystic – Van Morrison
Sailin’ Shoes – Little Feat
Cripple Creek Ferry – Neil Young
Sea of Heartbreak – Don Gibson (Aha, another metaphor. May have been mentioned elsewhere)
And the unimaginable
Christmas Island – Mia Dyson
(We died all together
On an ocean of rolling hills)
Thanks, Peter C, for these. Yes, our ship is well and truly sailing!
On Al Stewart’s excellent 1976 ‘Year Of The Cat’ album, the second song is called ‘On The Border’ and it opens up with:
‘The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border’
Good to see Neil Young’s ‘Cripple Creek Ferry’ mentioned above – I’ll cross it off my list :).
Another Neil Young song, off the 1976 Young-Stills album ‘Long May You Run’ is:
Midnight On The Bay
‘It’s midnight on the bay
And lights are shinin’
And the sailboats sway’
Cindy Oh Cindy – Eddie Fisher
Michael (Michael, row the boat ashore, Hallelujah) – The Highway Men
It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World (Man made the boat for water) – Cher
Build a Boat – Colton Dixon
We Sail the Ocean Blue – From the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera, HMS Pinafore
If It Don’t Take Two (But you can’t sail on a still day like two ships on a sea of love) – Shania Twain
Make Believe Who Cares if my Boat Goes Upstream – Judy Garland
My Ship – Judy Garland
“On The Good Ship Lollipop”, by Shirley Temple
African Summer, Dave Warner’s from the Suburbs
Gone to Hell in a Basket, Tom T (“Them air boat boys have got their nerve” – lets see if anothersong references air boats)
America the Ugly, Tom T
Ships Go Out, Tom T
History Erasure, Courtney Barnett
“Proud Mary”, by Tina Turner (‘Till I hitched a ride on the river boat queen”)
Ah, Fisho, you are kidding right, re attributing Man’s World to Cher? James Brown song through and through. At a pinch for a bit of Aussie flavour, maybe Renee Geyer gets a nod, maybe.
Cheers
Thanks, Karl, for the Stewart and Young material – judicious, illuminating quotation, too.
Thank you, Fisho, for your latest – I was wondering when Gilbert and Sullivan would get a guernsey in relation to this theme. Of course, ‘With Cat-Like Tread’ from Pirates of Penzance, with its reference to ‘friends, who plough the sea’, also merits being under our theme’s umbrella, given that ploughing the sea serves as a metaphor for sailing a ship.
Thanks, Anon, for your latest input. (Note: Dave N made mention of ‘Proud Mary’ earlier, but mentioned the CCR version.)
Thank you, Rick, for your most recent choices – an interesting mix of artists there: Dave Warner, Tom T Hall, Courtney Barnett.
Up Around The Bend (1970) – CCR ‘Cosmos Factory’ album:
There’s a place up ahead and I’m going
Just as fast as my feet can fly
Come away, come away, if you’re going
Leave the sinking ship behind
Thanks, Karl – that CCR album was part of the soundtrack of my young years. A kid up the street who was a friend had the LP (probably just as soon as it was available here in Oz) and would rave about the band to me and played their songs a lot.
Hey KD – funny you should mention ‘the kid up the street’. Back in the day (circa 1971/2) I had a job working the till at the local barber shop and every cent I got paid was used to buy records by mail from the CBS (later Australian) record club. The ‘club’ got you in by offering 6 albums for $6 and then you were committed to buy an album a month. Anyway, some of the first albums I got were Cosmos Factory. John Wesley Harding, Tea For The Tillerman & Woodstock. Then a couple of years ago I went to my years high school reunion – and one guy came up to me and said that he remembers me clearly from the day I brought Cosmos Factory to school – protected in it’s cardboard mail packaging.
Alas, I digress – let me add to the post.
Cat Stevens – Longer Boats – off the 1970 ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ album
‘Longer boats are coming to win us
Hold on to the shore, they’ll be taking the key from the door’
Drunken Sailor (put him in a long boat till he’s sober) – Irish Rovers
Row the Boat Together – The Hollies
When the Ship Comes In – The Hollies
“Ol’ Man River”, by Frank Sinatra (“Pullin’ them boats from the dawn till sunset”)
“Red Red Wine”, by UB40 (“Bun bad ganja pon him likkle rowing boat”)
Really interesting, Karl. The ‘kid up the street’ in my memory had an older brother who seemed to get just about every new LP release of note – the older brother was a member of some record club – it could have been the same one!
Thanks for ‘Longer Boats’, too – Tea for the Tillerman was definitely in the above family’s record collection as well.
Many thanks, Fisho and Anon, for your latest contributions.
Morning KD…
I am sure that the ‘older brother’ was accumulating his record collection from the same ‘club’. It was the best deal going around, especially if you had to scrimp & save to buy that most vital of resources – vinyl records!
Happy Traum – a Greenwich Village stalwart of the early 60’s – died just over a week ago. He was in the group ‘The New World Singers who recorded the first version of ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’.’
Happy has covered several ‘watercraft’ songs such as:
Sailing Down the Golden River by Pete Seeger
Boats Up The River (traditional)
In 1971, Dylan re-recorded several songs for his Greatest Hits Vol.2 double album and had Happy accompany him including on ‘Down In The Flood’
‘Crash on the levee, mama/Water’s gonna overflow
Swamp’s gonna rise/No boat’s gonna row’
Morning, Karl.
The older brother, not surprisingly, ended up having one of the best vinyl collections I’ve ever seen, only surpassed by one of my adult friends many years later.
Thanks for your latest (Happy Traum-centric) material.
The television advertisement jingle “Take Me Away P&O”, (1981) promoting the cruise ship P&O.
Thanks, Anon, for the P & O jingle.
I Want to Go Home (We sailed on the ship John B, my grandfather and me) – Johnny Cash
The Boat That I Row – Neil Diamond
“I Am Australian”, by The Seekers (“I watched the tall ships come.”) and (“I came upon the prison ship.”)
Botany Bay – John Williamson
A Bad Day’s Fishing (When the man in the boat is tallying up) – Slim Dusty
“All You Get From Love Is a Love Song”, by Carpenters (“Like sailin’ on a sailin’ ship to nowhere”)
“Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)”, by Billy Joel (“Remember all the songs you sang for me when we went sailing on an emerald bay, and like a boat out on the ocean, I’m rocking you to sleep.”)
“I Still Call Australia Home”, by Peter Allen (“When all the ships come back to the shore”)
Here’s my Donovan contribution to the theme:
Sand & Foam (1966) from the Sunshine Superman album
‘The sun was going down behind a tattoo tree
And the simple act of an oar’s stroke put diamonds in the sea’
Widow With A Shawl (A Portrait) (1968) from the ‘In Concert’ album
‘Dear Wind that shakes the barley free
Blow home my true love’s ship to me, fill the sail
I a-weary wait upon the shore’
Atlantis (1968) from the ‘Barabajagal’ album.
‘Knowing her fate, Atlantis sent out ships to all corners of the Earth
On board were the twelve, the Poet, the Physician, the Farmer, the Scientist, the Magician
And the other so-called Gods of our legends, though Gods they were
“The Wondrous Boat Ride”, by Gene Wilder from the film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (“There’s no knowing where we’re rowing.”)
“Sail On”, by The Commodores
“Brandy (You’re a fine girl)”, by Looking Glass (“There’s a port on the western bay and it serves a hundred ships a day.”
Congratulations on another century from the Almanac Music Readers. In true Olympics fashion, it’s a PB for the quickest century. It was achieved in 3 hours less than Songs about Food, which was also on the 3rd day.
Well done to all involved!
Bell Bottom Trousers (He’s now on a battleship in his trouser suit)
Trains and Boats and Planes – The Everly Brothers
Silver Dollar – Petula Clark
Many thanks for your latest batches of song choices, Fisho.
Interestingly, Johnny Cash’s version of ‘Sloop John B’ (!959) which is called ‘I Want to Go Home’, as you detail, is one of those few times (as far as I know) when others have done better versions of the song concerned than Cash – e.g. the Beach Boys (Brian Wilson arranged) version of 1966. Of course, this is just my personal opinion.
Thanks for your latest contributions, Anon, and (as I’ve said before) for your important role in our century of comments.
Many thanks, Karl, for adding your Donovan songs to our quickly growing list. This watercraft theme is indeed in full sail!
Do the following songs about trawling qualify?
The Final Trawl – Archie Fisher
The Trawler Song – Robert Lovie
Trawler’s Lullaby – Sam Shackleton
The Trawler Man’s Song – Mark Knupeler
Perhaps not surprising that the Waterboys would have a watercraft song to add to the list:
Strange Boat (1988) from the ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ album
‘We’re sailing on a strange boat
Heading for a strange shore
Carrying the strangest cargo
That was ever hauled aboard’
Thanks, Fisho, these songs certainly qualify, given that a trawler is the category name given to a variety of boat, as well as a seafaring occupation on a fishing trawler. Whatever way one looks at it watercraft are directly involved.
Thanks for the Waterboys song, Karl – somehow it wouldn’t be right if they didn’t have a watercraft song!
Anchors Away – United States Navy Band
Get Here (You can reach me by sailboat) – Paul Anka
Not sure if these have already been put forward but here goes:
Six Months in a Leaky Boat, Split Enz (and if it is then I’ll throw in Dr Livingstone, Crowded House)
Shipping Steel, Cold Chisel
Bicentennial, Paul Kelly (one sad song)
Steve Earle, The Gulf of Mexico
Ought to Be Satisfied Now, Billy Bragg (lyrics by Woodie Guthrie)
Birds and Ships, Billy Bragg (lyrics by Woody G)
Thanks, Fisho, for your latest two. Pretty sure I played ‘Anchors Aweigh’ when I played in my school brass band – we were a marching band as well as a concert band and performed quite a few military marches.
Thanks, Rick, for your latest lot – yes, the Split Enz version of ‘Six Months in a Leaky Boat’ was included in my initial set of videos, but good to mention other versions.
Re ‘Shipping Steel’ (great early Chisel!): it’s about the trucking life, isn’t it, but uses ‘shipping’ in the sense of transporting, if I’ve got it right.
Ha KD, I really should go back and check, of course Six Months would be in your summary of the theme!
Re Shipping Steel, yes I was being a bit cheeky, but I do wonder if Don Walker was playing with the larger idea of mining/exports in his theme/lyrics/title. Happy to withdraw it. And in its place I submit:
Khe Sanh (we sailed into Sydney Harbour … the telex writers clattered where the gunships once had been)
And now some from Joe Henry (one of the best literate songwriters of the last 30 years):
Wave
Sign
Climb
Fuse
Well KD, I’m about to cast my trawler net into the vast ocean that is Dylan’s songbook. I sea (sic) that we already have 3 contributions so far:
Quinn The Eskimo – ‘building ships & boats’ from your introduction
When The Ship Comes In – 3 times (Liam: The Hillmens cover/Smokie: Dylan original/ Fisho: Hollies cover)
Down In The Flood – my earlier contribution re Happy Traum.
So, let’s kick off this deep dive with:
‘Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin’ ship’
Mr Tambourine Man (1965)
This song has been covered by over 225 artists and was made ‘famous’ by The Byrds in a very stripped down version – released only 3 weeks after Dylan’s original..
Jamaica Farewell – Harry Belafonte
Sit down you’re rockin’ the boat – Stubby Kaye (Guys and Dolls)
Row row row (way up that river) – Bing Crosby…sounds eerily familiar!
Cheers, Burkie
Some Leonard and Joni:
Democracy (Sail on, sail on/O mighty Ship of State!/To the Shores of Need/Past the Reefs of Greed/Through the Squalls of Hate/Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on)
Heart with no Companion (I sing this for the captain/Whose ship has not been built)
Everybody Knows (Everybody knows that the boat is leaking/Everybody knows that the captain lied)
Suzanne (Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river/You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night beside her)
Song for Sharon (As soon as this ferry boat docks/I’m headed to the church/To play Bingo)
Number One (You get a car/You want a boat)
Banquet (Seagulls come down and they squawk at me/Down where the water skiers glide)
Blue (You know I’ve been to sea before/Crown and anchor me/Or let me sail away)
Southern Son (Two hundred years ago they came in Ships) – Lee Kernaghan
And three from Muriel Anderson
Sailing to Yesterday, Leaving Today
Sailing Dream
I’m Sailing, I’m Sailing
Thanks, Rick, for your most recent input concerning ‘Khe Sanh’, Joe Henry, ‘Laughing’ Lenny and Joni – wonderful.
And yes, I do agree Walker was playing with a larger idea concerning mining /exports with – for a start -references to ‘steel pigs’ and ‘shipping’ in ‘Shipping Steel’.
Thanks, Karl, for casting your net further into the vast Dylan ocean: in this context, the words of the founding father of modern American poetry, Walt Whitman, come to mind, from his epic, Song of Myself (original version, 1855): ‘I am large, I contain multitudes’.
Thanks, Burkie, for your contribution to our theme. Welcome aboard!
Thanks, Fisho, for your latest four songs. American Muriel Anderson is another of those artists whose work I should delve into in some detail.
And a couple more from Muriel Anderson
Ferry Boat Crossing
Favourable Winds
Raft (And I’m heading for the Cape, I’m on a raft) – Crooked Rain
Chicken On a Raft – Cyril Tawney
Hey KD – you would be aware that on Dylan’s latest – Rough & Rowdy Ways (2020) – the opening track is called ‘I Contain Multitudes’.
Now, back to watercraft…….
Boots Of Spanish Leather – from the 1964 ‘The Times They Are A-Changin” album.
Oh, I’m sailin’ away, my own true love/I’m a-sailin’ away in the mornin’
Is there somethin’ I can send you from across the sea/From the place that I’ll be landin’?
Bigger Boat by Brandy Clark featuring Randy Newman, a witty, satirical take on the state of politics in the US from 2019.
“We’re on the Titanic, but we think it’s the Ark/Sharks in the water got me thinking ’bout a movie quote
Yeah, we’re gonna need (we’re gonna need)/A bigger boat (a bigger boat)”
Ghost Ships, The Saints, that is Chris Bailey’s version of The Saints (Ghost ships are sailing on empty seas/the light that was in the darkness/it does not shine on me)
Someday My Ship Will Sail, Emmylou and others have covered this song, but I do like Emmylou going Gospel (There’s eternity before me/Just beyond the dark’ning veil/O my spirit hollers to go on/Someday my ship will sail)
Galveston Bay, Bruce (One humid Texas night there were three shadows on the harbor/Come to burn the Vietnamese boats into the sea)
End Game, Taylor Swift (I’m in the Ghost like I’m whipping a boat)
Southern Cross – Crosby Still and Nash
“Got out of town on a boat, going to Southern islands
Sailing a reach before a following sea
She was making for the trades on the outside
And the downhill run to Papeete
Off the wind on this heading lie, the Marquesas
We got eighty feet of the waterline
Nicely making way”
Barges – Ralph McTell
“Stand by the drawbridge, waiting for barges
Waiting around for smiles from the man.
Lifting the bridge whilst watching the horses
Dragging the slow boats up the canal.”
The Grand Affair – Ralph McTell
“Take a boat, maybe a plane,
Anywhere now, ‘cept Greece or Spain.”
(written by Ralph between 1967 and 1974, When the military ruled Greece and Franco still ruled Spain)
Blues Run the Game – Jackson C Frank
“Catch a boat to England baby
Maybe to Spain
Wherever I have gone
Wherever I’ve been and gone
Wherever I have gone
The blues are all the same”
A beautiful song by a 60s singer who had a very sad life. Best known recording of the song is on an early Simon and Garfunkel album.
Pacifica – Graeme Connors
“The Resolution sailed in 1871 From Malaita and Guadalcanal”
Thank you, Fisho, for your most recent selections. Watercraft seem to be a particular Muriel Anderson theme.
Thanks, Karl, for your latest Dylan – yes, Dylan (and many others, like the poet Allen Ginsberg) very much followed in the glorious ‘wake’ of Whitman.
Great range of songs and wonderful quotations, Rick. Many thanks. (I’m a definite Chris Bailey fan, by the way.)
Thank you, Dave N,. you’ve covered some impressive watercraft-related territory in your latest song choices. Great input in terms of our theme.
Here’s some of Dylan’s earliest works:
Hard Times In New York Town (Dec 1961 – opening track on the 1991 Bootleg Series V1-3
‘If you got a lot o’ money you can make yourself merry
If you only got a nickel, it’s the Staten Island Ferry’
Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie (Apr 62 – track 8 on Bootleg Series V1-3)
‘Sailin’ down the Mississippi to a town called New Orleans
They’re still talkin’ about their card game on that Jackson River Queen
“I’ve come to win some money”, gambling Willie says
When the game finally ended up the whole damn boat was his’
Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues (Apr 62 – track 6 on Bootleg Series V1-3)
‘Well, we all got on and what do you think/That big old boat started to sink
More people kept a-pilin’ on/That old ship was a-goin’ down
Funny way to start a picnic’
Earlier contributor raised Sea Shanties. There are 43 more of them on the Rogues Gallery compilation. My fav is Ferry/Antony – Lowlands Low.
Regards. Frank.
Can’t believe I’ve only just remembered to post my favourite Guy Mitchell song
She Wears Red Feathers (It’s goodby to the London Bank, I started in a sailing, the fourteenth day from Mandalay I spied her from the railing)
Jamestown Ferry, Tanya Tucker – released on her first album when she was 14! (A case of gone was all he carried/As he got on the Jamestown Ferry/And he said that gone was all he’d ever be)
Music City Queen, Miranda Lambert – with The B-52s (Rolling down the river on the Music City Queen/Cumberland water, yeah, life is but a dream)
Riverboat, Faron Young (Riverboat, riverboat/I love your whistle’s wail/I wish I was back on the riverboart/’Stead of in the Memphis jail)
Steamboat Whistle Blues, John Hartford (I’d sit and watch my TV if I thought I could trust the news/About the only thing I trust these days/Is them steamboat whistle blues)
Down Payment Blues, ACDC (Got myself a sailing boat/But I can’t afford a drop of rain/I got holes in my shoes/And I’m way overdue/Down payment blues)
Old Ship of Mine – Tex Morton
A Sailboat in the Moonlight – Billie Holiday
Song of the Volga Boatmen – Glen Miller and his Orchestra
Riverboat Shuffle – Muggsy Spanier
Ship of Fools-The Doors off Morrison Hotel
The human race was dyin’ out
No one left to scream and shout
People walking on the moon
Smog will get you pretty soon
Everyone was hangin’ out
Hangin’ up and hangin’ down
Hangin; in and holding fast
Hope our little world will last
Yeah, along came Mr Goodtrips
Lookin’ for a new ship
Come on people better climb on board
Come on baby now were goin’ home
Ship of fools
Ship of Fools.
Aussie gold!
1. Fisherman, Troy Cassar-Daley (Me and my dad had a boat we call Freedom/And it’s gettin’ harder to see our way clear/When the odds were against us we tried to beat ’em/But we battle through y?ar after year)
2. Dinghy Days, pre-Dragon Marc Hunter solo single, released in 2009
3. Tall Ships, Wolfmother, a sub Led Zep wannabe (I saw the ships come in that left you feeling big and tall/I wandered a thousand miles they left me on that ancient wall)
4. The Devil’s Inside My Head, Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson (I had a dream I was lost at sea/Sorrow’s cloud came down on me/Stranded out on a boat made of fire/Running on desire)
5. My Little Sinking Ship, The Smith Street Band (You’re my little sinking ship, not quite built to hold such weight/We were raised for the suburbs but we took to the waves)
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (The ship was the pride of the American side) – Gordon Lightfoot
Captain of Shipwreck – Neil Diamond
Shipwreck Song – The Altogher
Some folksongs about ships that are not shanties.
Sir Patrick Spens – traditional Scottish ballad
“The King sits in Dunferline toun,
Drinkin the blude-reid wine
‘O whaur will A get a skeely skipper
Tae sail this new ship o mine?’”
Mary Hamilton – Joan Baez (based on a traditional Scots song “The Four Marys”)
“”Oh, rise, arise, Mary Hamilton
Arise and tell to me
What thou hast done with thy wee babe?
I saw and heard weep by thee”
“I put him in a tiny boat
And cast him out to sea
That he might sink or he might swim
But he’d never come back to me”
The Bonnie Ship The Diamond – Ewan MCColl (19th Century folk song)
“For it’s cheer up my lads
Let your hearts never fail
For the bonnie ship the Diamond
Goes a-hunting for the whale”
Jim Jones at Botany Bay – Gary Shearston (but it’s a traditional convict song)
“The wind blew high upon the sea
When the pirates came along
But the soldiers on our convict ship
Were full five hundred strong
They opened fire and somehow drove
That pirate ship away
But I’d rather have joined that pirate ship
Than gone to Botany Bay”
The Rovin’ Dies Hard – The Battlefield Band (a song of travelling Scots)
“My names Willie Campbell I’m a ships engineer
And I know every berth between Lisbon and Largo
I’ve sweated mare diesel in thirty five year
Than a big tanker takes for a cargo”
Skye boat song by Glen Ingram and also Ride Captain Ride by Blues Image, Brandy you’re a fine girl by Looking Glass
….. there’s a port on a western bay, and it serves a hundred ships a day.
Ship of fools by World Party
Tug Boat – The Kessinger Brothers
The Tug Boat Song – Johnny Mac
Death Ship- Hoodoo Gurus
Great song from their magnificent debut album “Stoneage Romeos”.
Thanks, Karl D, for your early Dylan song choices. ‘Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie’ reminded me that an interesting sub-genre in connection with our present watercraft theme is the ‘American steamboat/paddle steamer’ genre. I’m thinking here of those big passenger boats that transported large groups of passengers on rivers like the Mississippi – so many songs mention them.
Thanks, Frank P, for your sea shanties material – a particularly interesting area of song in its its own right.
Many thanks, Fisho, for your latest additions to our theme – certainly an interesting range of material. Lightfoot’s classic ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ was part of my initial selection of songs.
Many thanks for your latest range of selections, Rick. Great stuff! Your mention of a number of riverboat songs underlined what I last said to Karl about an American riverboat songs sub-genre.
Thanks, Richard G, for The Doors’ ‘Ship of Fools’ – fine Jim Morrison lyrics there!
Thank you, Dave N, for your latest input – some wonderful, poetic lyrics in your quoted material.
Suddenly I’m reminded of ‘Tumbling Down’ by Dougie MacLean – MacLean sang this song when I saw him at the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel in the 1980s. You probably know the beautifully crafted opening lines: ‘Seaward they came / on the wings of the wind, on the edge of the flame…’
Many thanks, Tony F and Luke, for your recent input.
Yesterday was a big day on the good ship Almanac, in relation to our theme!
“Lido Shuffle”, by Boz Scaggs (“Lido missed the boat that day, he left the shack.”)
Congratulations on reaching another 150! I believe it’s also the quickest time (PB) for the Almanac Music Readers in reaching that milestone!
Thanks, Anon, for ‘Lido Shuffle’ – and for bringing up our 150. ‘Watercraft’ has certainly proved to be a very popular theme!
Good Wednesday Morning KD.
Not sure that me & Bob can add anything more to the ‘American steamboat/paddle steamer’ genre BUT we certainly got a fair few other watercraft lyrics to add to the theme as we steam towards a mighty 200.
Desolation Row (1965) from the Highway 61 Revisited album
‘Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody’s shouting
“Which Side Are You On?”‘
Other oceanic related images in the song include:
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot fighting in the captain’s tower
While calypso singers laugh at them and fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea where lovely mermaids flow
Good Wednesday morning to you, Karl. Thanks for ‘Desolation Row’.
Just did a quick Google … there’s an almost scary number of ‘steamboat/paddle steamer’ songs to be found – in general, I mean, not specifically related to Dylan!
Oh – and I should add to my last comment to Dave Nadel, a small number of comments back, that the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel I was referring to (in connection with Dougie MacLean) is a pub in Geelong, Victoria.
Frank P mentioned the great compilation, Rogues Gallery from 2006.
One of my faves from that set is Mingulay Boat Song, Richard Thompson.
Thinking about those tunes jolted a memory from childhood when dad would sing Dear Old Donegal, Bing Crosby to the delight of us kids. When I visited the Republic in 2022 (my first visit to dad’s family’s home) Donegal was front of mind.
My mind jumped again to the Springsteen song, American Land and while it doesn’t mention boats or ships it is a tale of the immigrant experience including “coming across the water” and docking at “Ellis Island”, so I reckon it fits.
And here’s a couple more songs:
Come On Down to My Boat, by Every Mother’s Son, a bit of fluff from the 60s
Deep as Your Pocket, Loretta Lynn (She’s a stupid girl in a fifty dollar dress/She wouldn’t think about wearin’ anything that costs much less/I can see she rows a boat but little ol’ me’s gonna rock it/Cause her love for you’s just deep as your pocket)
Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream (1965) recounts the discovery of America as follows:
‘I was riding on the Mayflower when I thought I spied some land’
…..then next verse…..
‘”I think I’ll call it America, ” I said as we hit land’
……..then 9 verses later…..
‘But the funniest thing was when I was leavin’ the bay
I spot three ships sailing, and they were all coming my way
I asked the captain what his name was an’ how come he didn’t drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus, and I just said good luck’
Thanks, Rick for your most recent input. ‘Songs associated with our fathers’ is a thematic list in itself – it’s been at the back of my mind for some time. My father, aside from being a bit of a 50s-ish rocker in his youth, was/is a decidedly country music listener, with also a penchant for early Rod Stewart (basically before Stewart went disco, from memory). My father’s father, as I recall, used to occasionally howl a la Chad Morgan in ‘The Sheik of Scrubby Creek’ after he’d had a few!
And, yes, of course ‘American Land’ fits, for the reasons you put forward.
Thanks for Dylan’s ‘115th Dream’, Karl. We can certainly rely on you when it comes to the works of the great man.
The Islands -Ralph McTell
As you may have noticed I am a huge fan of Ralph McTell. For a man who is famous for one song he has actually written a huge collection of well crafted songs. The Islands links the history of Viking settlement of the Shetland Islands with the major oil spill from the wreckage of the tanker The Braer off the coast of Shetland in 1993. I am posting the first and fourth verses.
‘We do not fear the long ships
We’ve seen long ships before
Men sailed here from the?north?land
And hauled their?boats ashore
They brought with them the?music
The language and the law
And burned their boats and stayed?here
On?the?islands”
“We never feared the long ships
Till the coming of the “Braer”
The roaring sea in anger
Beat that broken boat ashore
Spilled fuel enough to take that ship
Twice round the world or more
And filled the air with oil
To paint the islands”
My Island Home – The Warumpi Band (The best “homesickness song” in the Australian cannon)
“In the evenin’ the dry wind blows from the hills and across the plain
I close my eyes and I’m standin’ in a boat on the sea again
And I’m holding that long turtle spear
And I feel I’m close now to where it must be
And My Island Home is a waitin’ for me”
Destitution Road – Alistair Hulett a song about the Scottish Clearances in the Nineteenth Century.
“Well, the famine and the plague they dragged you down
As you made your way to Glasgow Town,
For you’d heard o’ a ship that was sailing soon
For the shores o’ Nova Scotia.
And you sold your gear and you paid your fare,
Your head held high, though your heart was sair.
And ye bid farewell for evermair
To the shores o’ Caledonia.”
Sorry about the misprints in the first song. I don’t know how the ? got into the text. Please ignore them.
Thanks, Dave, for your latest input on the ‘watercraft’ theme – fine material, as usual superbly displayed via the use of telling quotation. What you’ve put forward reminds one that that ‘songs involving ships/boats/watercraft in general’ is one of the fundamental categories when we analyse what humans sing about.
Hey KD
How about a favourite classic from none other than the Nobel Laureate – with an extra bonus point for one of the best deployments of rhyme in the English language:
Tangled Up In Blue – off the 1975 Blood On The Tracks album
So I drifted down to New Orleans/where I happened to be employed
Working for a while on a fishing boat/Right outside of Delacroix
Thanks for the wonderful ‘Tangled Up in Blue’, Karl – as I’ve indicated before, it’s one of my absolute favourite Dylan songs. I remember teaching myself to play it as a teenager when I taught myself acoustic guitar.
After mentioning a few ELO songs previously, I realised I forgot to include Night in the city (from the 1977 classic album Out of the Blue):
There she stood with no hope
Because she’d miss-ed the boat
And as her dreams sailed away
She headed back for the day
Back to the city.
Thanks, Liam. Good pickup! You are certainly our ‘go to’ man when it comes to the work of ELO.
It’s a Dylan double day ¬ this time with his least thoughtful deployment of a rhyme (although a rare mention of a fine Venetian watercraft):
When I Paint My Masterpiece (1971)
‘Sailing ’round the world in a dirty gondola
Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola’
Thanks, Karl, for ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’ – I see where you’re coming from with your comment concerning it.
Mississippi River Blues, Big Bill Broonzy (The big boat ease up the river/Are turnin’ ’round an ’round/Lord, I’m ‘on get me a good girl/Or jump overboard an drown)
Mississippi River Blues, Jimmie Rodgers (And when I hear the whistle of an old steamboat/Down that Mississippi River again I’m going to float)
Different Boats, Hayes Carll (We get what we are given and hope that it floats/Everybody’s on the river just taking different boats)
The Time I’ve Wasted, Lori McKenna (I could have downed a million beers in Mexico/Counted every piece of gravel on a long country road/Sailed that slow boat to China right up to the moon/For all the time I’ve wasted on you)
Dreamboat, Elton John (Dream on dreamboat, let my love light ride/Steam on steamboat to the other side/Cast the line, check the fuse/Save some time, this ain’t no pleasure cruise)
Thank you for your latest selections, Rick – a number of them underlined the fact that ‘songs mentioning the Mississippi’ would be another interesting sub-genre.
Here is this morning’s watercraft contribution from Dylan – circa 1965
‘Upon the beach where hound dogs bay
At ships with tattooed sails
Heading for the Gates of Eden’
Morning, Karl, you’re off to an early start today – thanks for ‘Gates of Eden’.
And here’s some from an Almanacer, and bloody good bloke, David Bridie. The first three are from his solo albums, in fact the first two are from his album, Wake, a ripper and not just because he does a Hank cover! Next one is from Hotel Radio, another impressive record. The last two by his band, My Friend the Chocolate Cake, first of which is the title track to their 2007 album. Yes, it’s another top shelf effort. I haven’t included any songs from his first band, Not Drowning Waving. If you don’t know his stuff, do yerself a massive, you are in for a treat!:
Treason (The brave ones fled on a pea green boat/Set fire to them, ignore them, see if they’ll float)
The Flatlands (If desperate we’d call up the Navy of Slovenia/The one boat flotilla could set us all free)
Blue Black Sky (Opportunity knocks behind books and boat holds)
Home Improvements (How ‘bout we grab a boat and row the river/Let’s drink the wine and sleep beneath the stars)
The Boat Song, an instrumental, from the album, Curious 2002
Thanks, Rick, for the David Bridie material – particularly good that it’s from an Almanac person. I know a bit of his work, but it would be a fine thing to know even more.
Here’s a cracker – that takes me back to the days of my early teens. When I first heard this on the radio I realised that something magnificent was happening and I wanted more of it….opening track of LZIII
Immigrant Song (1970)
Ah-ah, ah! Ah-ah, ah!
We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow
The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde, sing and cry
Valhalla, I am coming
On we sweep with threshing oar
Our only goal will be the western shore
Thank you for the Led Zep, Karl – an invigorating song!
The key Led Zep moment for me occurred in my early teens at a basketball tournament in central Victoria when a teammate gave me a cassette of the (then) recently released Houses of the Holy.
What a fine moment of discovery in 1973 with Houses Of The Holy – and what great delight you must have had to check out a back catalogue that included LZ, LZII, LZIII & Untitled.
Another fine discovery around that time was Jackson Browne.
Jamaica Say You Will (1972)
‘Jamaica, say you will
Help me find a way to fill these sails
And we will sail until our waters have run dry’
Thanks, Karl, for the Jackson Browne song – actually, when I think further about it, I received the Houses of the Holy cassette a couple of years after the album was released. That said, this was still my key (relatively) early Led Zep discovery moment.
Happy Saturday KD.
Dylan is the gift who keeps on giving….
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (1965)
‘All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home’
One More Weekend (1970)
‘Come on down to my ship, honey, right on deck
We’re flyin’ over the ocean just like you suspect’
Railroads and Riverboats, Jim Croce (from his first album)
Party Barge, Silver Jews (from their last. Incidentally, David Bernan, another great couldabin, led a tough life, with an excellent album in 2019 before calling his life quits)
The Lifeboat Party, Kid Creole and the Coconuts (what a glorious musical stew the Kid and Coconuts served up)
Steamboat, Adrianne Lenker (another must get on board artist, for her lyrics & melodies, oh and her band Big Thief)
Ohio Riverboat Song, Palace Brothers (based on Loch Tay Bost Song, a ye olde Scottish tune)
Happy Saturday to you, Karl – thanks for your latest additions to our watercraft songlist. Keep the Dylan a-comin! (As well as, indeed, any other songs you wish to add.)
Thanks so much, Rick, for your most recent selections. Sounds like great material – a little musical feast for us to devour and enjoy!
Looks like the steamship ‘watercraft’ is losing a bit of puff…..
Dylan’s ‘Absolutely Sweet Marie’ has been mentioned in a few of your recent themes – and here it is again….
‘Well, I don’t know how it happened
But the river-boat captain, he knows my fate
But everybody else, even yourself
They’re just gonna have to wait’
From Dylan’s 1976 Desire album:
Black Diamond Bay
‘As the last ship sails and the moon fades away
From Black Diamond Bay’
Thanks so much, Karl, for your latest ‘Bob’.
On this ocean of lyrics, there’s a few more Dylan before we can anchor in the bay, sip martinis & watch the sun rise…..
Jokerman (1983) – from the Infidels album
‘Standing on the water casting your bread
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
Distant ships sailing into the mist
You were born with a snake in both of your fists
While a hurricane was blowing’
Thanks, Karl. Glad there’s ‘life in the old Bob yet’, in relation to this watercraft theme!
And one from Bruce, one of his finest, from his first album, I think Bowie covered this:
Growin’ Up (The flag of piracy flew from my mast/My sails were set wing to wing/I had a jukebox graduate for a first mate/She couldn’t sail but she sure could sing)
Great pick up Rick!
Bruce is one of my all time favourite songwriters but I seem to neglect him in these theme topics. I rate his first 2 (pre Born To Run) albums quite highly.
Dylan – Carribean Wind (an outtake from the 1981 Shot Of Love recording session)
‘And them distant ships of liberty on them iron waves so bold and free
Bringing everything that’s near to me nearer to the fire’
Joe Camilleri’s other 90’s band The Revelators do a mighty fine cover of this song on their debut ‘Amazing Stories’ album.
Thanks, Rick – ‘Growin’ Up’ is certainly a fine Springsteen song. Like most of his best work, it’s charged with poetry and excitement.
Thank you, Karl, for ‘Caribbean Wind’. More and more, your Dylan input on these themed Almanac pieces is making me want to buy the best available book-length collection of his lyrics. I know I’ll do it soon!
Re Dylan lyric books…..I imagine they (his publisher) have the:
‘ULTIMATE AUTHORISED & COMPLETE: EVERY SONG & POEM EVER WRITTEN BY NOBEL LAUREATE BOB DYLAN’
book ready to run off the press soon. It will run for over 1000 pages and have an auto-generated Dylan signature, and a hefty price too!
I have 2 Dylan lyric books – both vastly outdated – the latest is a 600 page hardback covering 1962 – 2001….and thanks to your theme articles, it has had a decent (but pleasurable) workout over the past year.
Thanks for the info, Karl – I’ve already done a bit of research on the subject, but have a bit more to do, I feel.
Chemtrails, Beck (But all I can see in this light are boat sinking)
Mahgeetah, My Morning Jacket – what does the title mean, say it really slowly. This song is 20 years old which makes me feel really old. Loved it when it came out, band sounds like Crazy Horse and The Band jamming (I been waitin’ on the boat here, I been waitin’ so long)
Burning Down, REM back when this band was hot af and this is a b-side, remember them (Running water in a sinking boat/Going under but they’ve got your goat)
Lido Pier Suicide Car, Okkervil River, another pretty good and at times excellent folky singer-songwriter (We flew over the hills, the harbor boat/Over the wake would flash and spray)
Louisiana Man, and I’ll go with Bobbie Gentry’s version of the great Doug Kershaw song. (A house boat tied to a big tall tree/A home for my poppa and my momma and me) oh and it has this lyric as well – “At half past Poppa he’s a ready to go/He jumps in his pirogue headed down the bayou” because it includes a lesser known watercraft, a pirogue.
Cheers
Beyond Here Lies Nothing (2009) from Dylan’s ‘Together Through Life’ album
Well, my ship is in the harbor
And the sails are spread
Listen to me, pretty baby
Lay your hand upon my head
Beyond here lies nothin’
Nothin’ done and nothin’ said
Thank you, Rick, for your latest bunch – and a gold star for your inclusion of a boat called a pirogue! Now you’re more than a Captain in relation to our watercraft theme – you are a Commodore! (By the way, did the Commodores have any songs to fit this theme?)
Thanks so much, Karl, for ‘Beyond Here Lies Nothing’ – reliably at the helm of the good ship S.S. Zimmerman, as usual.
Re The Commodores……the pickings are thin….
Sail On – from 1979 Midnight Magic album
‘Whoa, sail on, honey
Good times never felt so good’
and one that might not pass the ‘lyrics’ pub test….
Love Canoe – from the 1983 Uprising album
Instrumental ONLY!
Thanks, Karl. good pickups there – that’s two more for our list. (I’ll include ‘Love Canoe’, given the presence of the word ‘canoe’ in the title.)
I know Fisho mentioned the Banana Boat song by Harry Belafonte back on July 26, 2004, but this is the Banana Boat Sunscreen Protection 30 + TV jingle, sung to the tune of Banana Boat.
Once again, congratulations to the Almanac Music Readers for bringing up the 200 in record time (PB) in less than 2 weeks! It follows previous double centuries re Songs About Animals, Houses and Clothes. Well done to all involved.
Thanks, Anon, for this latest input – including good stats! ( And the year was 2024, of course, in relation to Fisho.)
Yes, congrats to all who participated in terms of our 200 milestone and record time!
Morning KD
My next Dylan song to fit the theme has the following statement about it in wikipedia:
‘It provoked divisive critical reactions upon release, with views ranging from “one of his best songs ever” to “one of his worst songs ever”‘
My 2 feet are firmly planted in the ‘worst song ever’ side. I’ll leave my rant about why to another day.
Tempest (11m 34s) – off the 2012 Tempest album – the 45th (final) verse reads:
The watchman he lay dreaming
Of all the things that can be
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
Into the deep blue sea
Morning, Karl. Thanks for ‘Tempest’. It’s definitely one for Dylan specialists like yourself to comment upon in detail, I feel – as it’s a song I probably won’t ever get to know well enough to say much about, as I don’t think I have the stamina, concentration-wise, to repeatedly listen to it, because it’s soooooo long and musically repetitive.
As we tack towards the finish line for (perhaps) an unexpected podium position in the ‘music theme olympic championships’, I offer a final, fitting Dylan contribution. Fitting not only for those who have journeyed through Dylan’s sometimes murky & turbulent 60+ year career but also for those fine seafaring members of the dinghy ‘SS Densley’ who have rowed fearlessly into double century territory…..
Mississippi – off the 2001 ‘Love & Theft album
‘Well my ship’s been split to splinters and it’s sinking fast
I’m drownin’ in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it’s light and it’s free
I’ve got nothin’ but affection for all those who’ve sailed with me’
Thanks, Karl – yes, in ‘Mississippi’ you’ve certainly chosen a highly apt Dylan song to round off your ‘Bob’ input on this watercraft theme. In overall terms, the SS Densley has done the equivalent of ’rounding the Horn’ – a brilliant effort for a bunch of contributors in a rowboat!
A few more:
Saltwater Cowboy, Sammy Kershaw (if it weren’t for Captain Morgan steering this ship)
Moments, Xavier Rudd (Swimming from the body to escape the noise/Looking for that lifeboat that we once deployed)
Man Overboard, Do-Re-Mi (I paddle in the things I love/You wallow in a swamp of trivia)
My Island Home, Warumpi Band
Tahitian Blue, John Butler Trio (Sail your ship up on the shore/With battered masts and broken oar/Let me aboard to play my part/By letting me into your heart)
Thanks so much for these additions, Rick. I’ll add one more: ‘When Love Comes To Town’ by B.B. King and U2. This song begins: ‘I was a sailor, I was lost at sea…’
Note: new popular song theme this Friday, 16 August.
Adding to Neil Young’s contribution to this theme:
Tell Me Why – from the 1970 ‘After The Goldrush’ album
‘Sailin’ heart ships through broken harbors
Out on the waves in the night’
And another….by Neil Young:
Ambulance Blues
‘Back in the old folky days
The air was magic when we played
The riverboat was rockin’ in the rain
Midnight was the time for the raid’
Thanks for these Neil Young songs, Karl, adding even more ballast to our watercraft theme.
Perhaps a final foray on theme from Neil Young…..
Cortez The Killer (1975)
He came dancing across the water/With his galleons and guns
Looking for the new world/And the palace in the sun
Through My Sails (1975)
Wind blowing through my sails/It feels like I’m gone
Leaving with the wind blowing/Through my sails
Captain Kennedy (1980)
My father was a sailor named Captain Kennedy
He lost his wooden schooner to the Germans on the sea
Hippie Dream (1986)
And the wooden ships/Are a hippie dream
Capsized in excess/If you know what I mean.
Thanks so much for the recent efflorescence of Neil Young material, Karl, including the above.
‘Faraway Places’ (1982) by short-lived Australian band, Serious Young Insects – from their Housebreaking LP.. Early on in the lyrics, the song refers to ‘a ship upon the sea’.
In one of the longest list of comments, I think I’ve got another addition:
The Kinks – Sunny Afternoon
And I can’t sail my yacht
He’s taken everything I got
All I’ve got’s this sunny afternoon
…….Help me, help me, help me sail away
Well, give me two good reasons why I oughta stay
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Sunny Afternoon’ – can’t see it in the list before you mentioned it.
I was watching a boat on the water yesterday when I realised that I hadn’t remembered this song when we were doing watercraft songs back September. I have it on a vinyl album which I haven’t played for years, but it used to be one of my favourite Gordon Lightfoot songs back in the 70s.
Christian Island (Georgian Bay) – Gordon Lightfoot
“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 gale and keep smilin’
But for one more day she would like to stay
In the lee of Christian Island’
Thanks, Dave, for ‘Christian Island (Georgian Bay)’. One of the numerous excellent things about our themed popular song pieces is that they can continually be added to – and this enhances the overall songlist concerned.
Note: expect a new song theme next Friday, November 22.