Well, here's how I wrote "Song For Gale" and here's how I sing it in performance. It was/is common for open boat fishermen to sit facing forward and push the oars forward to row, so that phrase was intentional. Thanks! LK


SONG FOR GALE
(Larry Kaplan)

Blue skies, south wind
Fish jumpin' into your hand
What a time to be working old Nantucket Sound
From the Island into the Mainland

Worn out, smellin' of bait
You'd come home at the end of the day
And the sun over West Chop
Those warm summer breezes
Made you think it would never change

CHORUS: Get me my fiddle
         We'll sing all the old songs
         Now you take the high notes
         And I'll sing the low
         Good times and hard times
         They're worth all the tellin
         It won't matter to me
         If you sing em that well

I remember the time when you worked for a living
Pushing hard just to get back to shore
When you busted your back or you just wouldn't eat
They don't talk much of that anymore
When you sat with the old folks
Fell asleep from their stories
Stayed awake with the howling winds
Sang your songs till the children were all tucked away warm
And the night tides come rolling back in

CHORUS

Blue skies, south wind
Fish jumpin into your hand
What a time to be working old Nantucket Sound
From the Island into the Mainland

CHORUS
                                 Larry Kaplan
                                 c, 1988, Hannah Lane Music