Lyr Add: Whale's Knell

Subject: Lyr Add: Whale's Knell
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 04:38 AM

G'day Chanymen,

The whaling references in the past 24 hours got my last remaining brain cell activated. An archival search found the following, written on a paper napkin, some 30 years back.
_______________________

Whales Knell
============

Oh listen to my song, it won't detain you long,
I've been whaling for two hundred years or so,
Oh, the killings first were slow,
But now they're not you know.
Now I look back on things that I did wrong.

Oh hear the whales sigh, as one by one they die.
They're the biggest thing that ever lived on Earth.
They're hunted from their birth,
For the money that they're worth.
Extinction of their kind is getting nigh.

We are off to sea once more, hear the gales rage and roar,
We will sail 'til a whale fish we spy,
Oh, the harpoon it will fly,
Then back on ship we'll try,
Sperm whale blubber, 'til he is no more.

Now, the sea is looking gray, there's no whale fish today.
We're lee shored, and the grog is flowing free.
So come in from the sea,
It's a lubber's life for me,
When we do our whaling inshore from the Bay.

So pull on your oar, row out from the shore,
Harpooneer, with your harpoon in your hand.
Oh they say that life is grand,
When you try them out on land.
Soon right whales, they will be no more.

There's not much more to tell, we did our job too well.
The harpoon gun can now our bomb-lance lob.
The diesel engine's throb,
Speeds up the chasing job.
Soon, we'll ring the blue whales knell.

Now the whales are all gone, so, I can't go whaling on.
There's none left to hunt at sea no more.
Now, I've settled on the shore,
But my heart is feeling sore,
As I think back on the things that I have done.

__________________________________________

Sam - written ca 1973/4 - obviously after hearing the news of one of the early Greenpeace "Rubber Duckie" attacks on the Antarctic whaling fleets, as this unfinished verse shows.

Oh, my heart is full of pain!
Whales are in the news again!
Fights with men they often had,
But, their story it is sad.
And, whales we may never see again.
____________________________

Anyway....

There it is. If anyone wants amplification on the words, I can provide - I think.

In the meantime.... GROG

Cheers - Sam

PS - the above is PD - use or abuse it!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Whale's Knell
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 08:21 AM

OK, let's hear the rest. Include where you were living when you wrote this little ditty.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Whale's Knell
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 08:54 AM

And we wants some clue about the tune!;~)

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Whale's Knell
From: MMario
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 08:57 AM

Any suggested tune?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Whale's Knell
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 06:15 PM

I did have a dirge-like tune for it, but can't recall it. Try "Poor Jud is Dead", it seems to fit. Twenty years back I was asked to play that role an hour after signing my marriage seperation agreement. Talk about type-cast ... ;)

Cheers - Sam

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Whale's Knell
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 06:33 PM

Sorry EBarnacle, I don't recall exactly where I wrote it - somewhere in NZ - I was living in a caravan and moving round a lot. Probably a folk coffee bar or pub, since it was written on a napkin. It was undoubtedly fueled by Wilson's Whisky (NZ).

Cheers - Sam