Words
& Music ?2005 Gordon Bok
Through many years on the water, mostly along this coast and a few others, I've heard a lot of things, and have recently been jotting them down as I remember them.?This is some parts of conversations strung together and sung.?I've interspersed it with one side of a conversation I heard on marine radio a few years ago ?that's the spoken part.?Memory is a drifty thing, as my brother and I enjoyed proving, so the words may be more mine than theirs, but the stories and the sentiments are true as the day they happened.
Gordon ?Spanish Guitar
Sung:
Lord, lord, lord, ain't it
pretty today?
With the sky all quilted
over like a mattress, soft and gray
See every twig and pebble
on the islands up the bay
And the wind away?
Hey, hey, hey; pretty
today
Spoken:
Hey Pete ?you on this one*?
Yeah, it's me.?I been hauling over here under the
Blockhouse all morning.
牋 Look ?is that you in there by the Sears bell?
I though that looked like
you.?Uh?you've been kind of?stationary in
牋 there for awhile.?Is
everything alright?
Aw, that's a bummer.?I expect you've cleaned your filters, bled
her out,
牋 looked at the aircleaner, like-a-that?
Naw, God, beyond that, I
dunno.?Could be injectors, anything I
guess.
Anyway, I think I'll go
over to TurtleHead: I've got a couple of strings in there and
牋 if I can get to them, maybe I can catch up to myself a little
this week.
牋 So look, if there's anything I've got that you can use, I'll be
in the
牋 neighborhood.?You will
let me know, won't ya?
Well, good enough; I'll
leave you to it, then.?I'll be on this
channel, anyway.
Sung:
Poor old boats
They're nothing but a
flaming
牋?Construct of the Mind
Nothing but a pile of
man-made notions
Steel and plastic ?spells
and potions ?
They've got nothing to do
with the ocean or the wind
Nothing to do with the
water or the wind
Damned old things
Yeah they're nothing but a
flaming construct of the mind
Nothing but a flaming
fabrication
Some damned human
machination
And we wonder why they
won't keep a-running on their own
Wonder why they don't keep
running on their own
Oh, but someday the world's going to give a great old shake ?o:p>
Blow us all to
hell-and-gone off here
And I know for one that
the ocean wouldn't mind
And you can bet your boots that the wind won't even care?o:p>
Spoken:
Oh ?oh ?here we go?o:p>
Hey Pete! I know you're
busy, but stick your nose up
牋 outa there and talk to me for a minute, will ya?
Yes ?you are in kinda close.?Look, I've got a line made up right here ?o:p>
牋 why don't I slide in by your stern and we twitch you
牋 right outa there?
Yeah, that looks good to
me.?I'll just poke along easy;
牋 we got all day.?Hell, we
got all night, if we need it.
No, buddy, don't even
think about it.?Next week it'll be me
??/span>out there, we both know
that.?Look, you talk to Rosie,
牋 you give her my best, won't ya?
Sung:
I don't dream of sailor's
heaven, I won't sing of Fiddler's Green
I'm not looking for a
fairer world than the one I've always known
I just drive her when she
rises and slack her when she falls
And hope I never get to
reap all the foolishness I've sown
No, I don't dream of
sailor's heaven, I don't sing of Fiddler's Green
I'm not looking for a
kinder world than the one I've always seen
I just ease her when she pitches
and catch her when she rolls
And get her in before the
devil knows we're out here
Lord, lord, lord? pretty
today
* a particular marine radio channel (not 16)
Collage: "Pretty" is recorded on the
album In Concert