Lyr Req: Wreckers (Sarah Davis)

Subject: Origins: Looking for a song
From:
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 02:36 PM

I am looking for a song that I heard in 1991 or 1992.   It is about a village that lights a fake light to get ships to come into it's harbor. But the ships crash in the rocks and any survivors are killed so that the villagers can take all of the travellers belongings. I know a group that played in Aberdeen, WA and the Olympia area recorded it, but that's all I know. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Subject: ADD: Wreckers (Sarah Davis)
From: nutty
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 03:41 PM

This is a great song .... I hope it is the one you are looking for

                         WRECKERS

                                        © Sarah Davis

                  Respectable people take to your beds
                  For the night it is dark and it's stormy
                  Turn your head to the wall and hear nothing at all
                  For the cart is starting its journey
                  Out of the town up to the downs
                  Along the cliff path it is going
                  Twelve men and a cart out in the dark
                  Best not to ask where they're going

                  Chorus:
                         On a stormy night with a false light
                         The wreckers are down mid rock and mid foam
                         Pity the sailor who's on the salt sea
                         Thinking he's not far from home


                  Laden low in the sea swell
                  Beckoned on by the light she knows well
                  Unaware of the rocks until it's too late
                  And another ship moves to her fate
                  Then it's time to work fast busy at last
                  Gathering all that reaches the shore
                  If bodies arrive making sure none survive
                  The silenced tongue can tell no tales

                  The wreckers work hard all through the dark night
                  Long ago they extinguished that treacherous light
                  When dawn comes around more people are found
                  Gathering flotsam and jetsam
                  Then it's back down the path, homeward at last
                  There to divide the spoils of the night
                  Of one thing be sure naught will be said
                  Of twelve tired men and twelve empty beds

                  The squire's wife wears a new dress of red
                  With no trace of salt or those who are dead
                  The innkeeper's serving the finest of rum
                  And the squire is drinking strong brandy
                  Life will go on there's nothing to fear
                  Nothing to see and nothing to hear
                  Respectable people who turn to the wall
                  Need have no shame, no guilt at all

---

E-Mail sent.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 03:51 PM

This story or a variation appeared in a movie or book I came across recently about a fishing village that makes extra money by boiling seawater for salt. The fires serve another purpose - to lure ships onto the rocks so that the villagers can claim salvage rights.

One night they find a wreck with all its occupants dead. All are dressed in red. The villagers distribute the goods and clothing share for share then all fall ill. Seems the dead passengers had been plague carriers put to sea to get them out of their native towns.

Anyone recognize the tale? I will drive myself crazy trying to find the source.

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 03:53 PM

sounds like a twilight zone episode!

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 04:01 PM

Similar ploy used in a short story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell.

Its a fun, quick, read.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Fran
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 04:23 PM

Tall Ships by Steve Knightley of Show of Hands here is an extract:

"The fishermen rise with the sun
and they work til the days nearly done
hauling empty nets
while the cold sun sets
and the winter has barely begun

Theres a lighthouse a mile from the shore
that the storm weary sailors search for
when the win and raine
bring their gales again
it won't shine for them anymore

We have families with sons on the sea,
who work the tall ships of the sea
but our choice is made
by the winter days,
and the children who sit on the quay

That wild evening the word flew around,
a tall merchant mans tempted aground
how we shout and sing glad to greet the spring
though we weep for the sailors we've drowned"

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: curmudgeon
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 05:54 PM

This song is way too familiar, especially the line,

"Turn your head to the wall and hear nothing at all
  For the cart is starting its journey ..."

All reminiscent of the film(s) "Jamaica Inn."

Are there recordings? Is the tune available?

Thanks -- Tom

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 06:10 PM

A noticeable debt to Kipling, indeed; but without his skill, I fear.

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: belter
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 06:27 PM

William Pint & Felicia Dale recorded Wreckers on their album "Hearts of Gold. No dought it's been recorded by others.
http://members.aol.com/Pintndale/

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 06:58 PM

Wreck of the Athens Queen (Stan Rogers)

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 08:16 PM

Interesting anecdote on that subject that happened last week.

I was travelling to NYC from NJ by Pt. Imperial Ferry. A 5 minute ride. Returning I was up on the high deck and noticed no lights whatsoever lighting the pier---I spoke with the Pilot and asked if that does not give him a problem---he said---"hey, when you do this 90 times a day it becomes rote".   I asked (damned interviewing techniques always seem to come out) does it ever becoming boring---this job?   He replied---Damned right---everyday---but you cannot beat the pay for this.


Anyway safe landing on a great service provided. Though I still wonder why the trip costs less (round trip) than parking in their lot.

The next water episode---if you want---is riding and interviewing the crew of a NYC Fireboat---it will air on WFDU on Sunday 9/12. On the web you can hear it
http://www.wfdu.fm

Anchors Aweigh

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Aug 04 - 09:40 PM

I've posted at least two other wrecker songs in the threads, the one titled "Wreckers" is actually a song composed by salvagers around Key West back in 1830. The other titled "Salvagers" is more contemporary fantasy focused on what might have happened along the coast of New Hampshire back in the early 19th century, a tradition carried on in another fashion by some in the town of Seabrook by running a nuclear power plant.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Joe_F
Date: 31 Aug 04 - 06:05 PM

While I lived on Long Island, I heard a story (not countenanced by George R. Stewart in _American Place-Names_) that Fire Island, the barrier beach, was named after fires built there for that wicked purpose.

I once read (I'm sorry to say I can't remember where) about a monastery located on a dangerous coast, where the monks, if they spied a ship, would not build a fire, but *pray* for it to be wrecked. Si non e vero....

Subject: ADD: Tall Ships (Steve Knightley)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 31 Aug 04 - 09:10 PM

I sent a personal message to Fran asking for complete lyrics to "Tall Ships." In the meantime, I found it here (click) and here (click). You can download the 22-minute recording here (click) (and there's a shorter version there, too.
-Joe Offer-


Tall Ships
by Steve Knightley
incorporating Winter's Welcome and Well-Bred Clowns and the traditional Spanish Ladies

(On the coast: a fisherman - spoken)
Give us a wreck or two, good Lord
For winter along this coast is hard:
The grey frost creeps like mortal sin
There's no food in the larder, no bread in the bin.
One rich wreck is all we pray,
Busted abroad at break of day,
Broken and splintered upon the reef
With food and stores to calm our grief!
Lord of rock and tide and sky,
Heed our call, hark to our cry!
Bread by the bag, beef by the cask -
Food for poor hearts - is all we ask.

(chorus)
On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands
So we wait for a storm in the sky.

1. Farewell and adieu to you Spanish ladies
Farewell, adieu, you ladies of Spain.
We've received orders to sail back to England,
We hope in a short time to see you again.
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea,
Till we strike soundings in the channel of old England
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues.

2. We hove our ship to with the wind from sou'west, boys
We hove our ship to, deep soundings to take;
'Twas forty-five fathoms, with a white sandy bottom,
We squared our main yard and up channel did make.
We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea,
Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues.

3. Oh the fishermen rise with the sun,
And they work till the day's nearly done,
Hauling empty nets, while the cold sun sets
And the winter has barely begun.

4. There's a lighthouse a mile from the shore
That the storm-weary sailors search for,
When the wind and rain bring their gales again,
It won't shine for them any more!

On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands
So we look for a storm in the sky.

5. Sweet thoughts of home came to me today
Far too long now I've been away
I'll stay away no longer
Come you homeward winds blow stronger,
Blow stronger, I'm homeward bound.
I'm homeward bound.

6. With the first sight of the West Country shore
We swear we won't go to sea any more
Sweethearts and wives seem dearer
As the English coast draws nearer.

7. Now soon, their welcome will warm a winter's heart
We'll vow nothing will pull us apart
There'll be a short time of plenty
We'll think agian when our pockets are empty.

8. Now a grey cloud blackens the clear western skies.
Fear and welcome join both in our eyes.
Full sail and a straining main-mast,
Run with the wind, we'll fly while the storm lasts.
While the storm lasts.
I'm homeward bound.
I'm homeward bound.

9. As the rain blackened clouds gather round,
And the roaring gales drown every sound
All eyes search the night for the ray of light
That warns where the black rocks are found.

(On the ship: sailor - spoken)
I know this place...I know this shoreline
Something's wrong...something's wrong!

Five fathoms! Four fathoms! Three fathoms!
WE'RE RUNNING AGROUND! WE'RE RUNNING AGROUND!
Look out! We're running a...

(On the shore: Fisherman - spoken)
One rich wreck! Or maybe two,
Food and stores to see us through
Till spring leaps up like break of day
And fish return to the empty bay.
One rich wreck! For thy hand is strong.
A brig or a merchantman from Apalong.
Caught on your twisted tides, good Lord,
And drawn by our false lights to the shore.

10. I rose with the morning on a rain-washed day
Early, and I walked along the shore;
Watching the broken, splintered driftwood coming in,
I listened to the ocean roar;
The town slowly waking, and I walked from the sea
Parents break in to their children's dreams;
Mothers start to call,
Fathers reach the stirring streets,
And wonder what another morning brings.

11. All they have to sell is the strength of two strong arms
All they own, standing in their shoes.
And the price of your labour in deep winter, it falls and falls,
The point came, there was nothing left to lose:
We paid the price of winter and we buy another year
It's time to search the heart and count the cost.
Take the guilty conscience and the widow's bitter tear
And what we gain is someone else's loss.

12. Yesterday the gales that shook the roof-top slates,
Today, the breeze gently turns your hair.
And the tide that closed its fist and snapped a broad ship's back
Now softly takes the white gulls from the air.
Oh, the banker's purse is like a deep black well,
For every other well-bred clown;
And the mercahnt has a fleet full of young men's lives.
He can risk one in twenty going down.

13. I rose with the morning on a rain-washed day,
It was early and I walked along the shore.
I knelt down by the water where my brother lay,
I listened to the ocean roar...

14. We have families with sons on the sea
Oh they work the tall ships of the sea;
But our choice is made by the winter days,
And the children who watch from the quay.

15. That wild evening the word flew around,
A tall merchantman's tempted aground
How we shout and sing! glad to greet the spring,
Though we weep for the sailors we've drowned!

On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands,
So we look for a storm in the sky.

16. November wind chills to the bone,
And December rain lashes the stones.
Sea that brings us life! take your sacrifice
And bring back the hope to our homes.

On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands
So we look for a storm in the sky.

17. Oh the fishermen rise with the sun,
And they work till the day's nearly done;
Hauling empty nets while the cold sun sets
And the winter has barely begun.

On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands
So we look for a storm in the sky.
Ah we look for a storm in the sky.

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 Aug 04 - 09:57 PM

Joe Offer-

Wow! What a saga.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Joybell
Date: 31 Aug 04 - 10:17 PM

The idea of "wrecking" passing travelers, using fake lights, was used in the Australian film "The Cars that Ate Paris". The town survives by wrecking cars and salvaging everything including the human occupants. The title was changed in America to - "The Cars That Ate the World" It's an early Peter Weir film. Great fun and weird! Has a sequence showing an Aussie Bush Dance that's blacker than black in it's humour. Joy

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Amos
Date: 31 Aug 04 - 11:19 PM

I encountered a boat of wreckers on the coast of Sicily, hiding in a narrow passage with a false set of spars with lights rigged out on them, designed to look like a distressed boat and lure passing yachts into a shoal. When they saw we had foiund them they folded up shop and ran off into the night.

Scary to think that was in the the late-20th century...

A

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: mike the knife
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 01:33 PM

That's a variation of the Siren legends- goes way back.
Here's Die Lorelei from Heine (learned it for extra credit in college ;-) )

1. Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,
Daß ich so traurig bin,
Ein Märchen aus uralten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
Die Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt,
Und ruhig fließt der Rhein;
Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt,
Im Abendsonnenschein.
2. Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
Dort oben wunderbar,
Ihr gold'nes Geschmeide blitzet,
Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar,
Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme,
Und singt ein Lied dabei;
Das hat eine wundersame,
Gewalt'ge Melodei.

3. Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe,
Ergreift es mit wildem Weh;
Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
Er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh'.
Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen
Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn,
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen,
Die Loreley getan.

Translation (a little jerky):
1. I cannot determine the meaning
Of sorrow that fills my breast:
A fable of old, through it streaming,
Allows my mind no rest.
The air is cool in the gloaming
And gently flows the Rhine.
The crest of the mountain is gleaming
In fading rays of sunshine.
2. The loveliest maiden is sitting
Up there, so wondrously fair;
Her golden jewelry is glist'ning;
She combs her golden hair.
She combs with a gilded comb, preening,
And sings a song, passing time.
It has a most wondrous, appealing
And pow'rful melodic rhyme.

3. The boatman aboard his small skiff, -
Enraptured with a wild ache,
Has no eye for the jagged cliff, -
His thoughts on the heights fear forsake.
I think that the waves will devour
Both boat and man, by and by,
And that, with her dulcet-voiced power
Was done by the Loreley.

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: belter
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 02:16 PM

In the movie "Snake Eyes" from a few years ago, the main character told the story of wreckers at Atlantic City in the old days. The moral of the story being that thats all changed now. Now the lights are brighter.

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Sep 04 - 03:26 PM

------------------C----------------Dm--------------Am
Take no pride when men have died, by hearts so cold and cruel,
-----Dm--------C---------------------F--------C---Dm
If the salvage man be your friend, then the Devil go with you!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Cats
Date: 02 Sep 04 - 01:52 PM

I recorded 'Wreckers' by Sarah Davis many years ago on the album, 'Like a Lighthouse Shining' with Jon Heslop, and have it on Cd. Or if you happen to be at Wareham Wail this weekend, I'll put it down for you.

Subject: RE: Looking for a song - fake light to lure ships
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Sep 04 - 02:42 PM

Here's a link to the Mudcat discussion of the traditional Key West ballad of wreckers from the 1820's:Click here!


And here's a Mudcat link to the Seabrook, NH, more contemporary composed ballad:Click here!


Cheerily,
Charley Noble