Roy and I do indeed sing it. Roy wrote it after seeing a picture in a book "Photograms of the Year" in the public library and it was chosen by the Guardian photo editor. Roy wrote the song, c1992, while walking home from the library in about 45 minutes. It was one of those songs, the Muse descended. After writing the song he needed a title and returned to the library to see if the boat had a name, hoping for "Queen of the Minches" or something similarly romantic, but the only identification on the photograph was F223, hence the title of the song. Karen and Colin Thompson recorded it on their album "Time and Tide" and it was also donated to a couple of charities in Lincolnshire and Hull for their fund raising CDs. Roy wrote it as an unaccompanied song but Colin Thompson added his excellent guitar to it. Do NOT attempt this guitar part without the aid of a safety net as Colin is very very good. Roy says please feel free to sing it to your heart's content but with feeling, as it is a love song.

F223
(Roy Jones)

Take down the lights lads now they're just keepsakes
The wheel's pinned to the bar room wall
The wheel house bound now for the skip mates
Let go the grab and watch it fall.

Chorus
And the daylight fades along the sea wall
The waves break on my stupid heart
As this day ends it leaves a gap now
Never drawn upon my charts.

She's all alone now at the quay side
There's not one other smack in sight
We'll stand and watch the last tide turning
We'll stand together one last night.

Chorus

In the morning she'll be gone then
And with her how I used to be
She's more than food and warmth and shelter
She's my sweet mistress of the sea.

Chorus

I'd rather take her by her moorings
And swimming tow her far from shore
And when we reach the shining home grounds,
We'll follow the nets and rise no more.

Chorus

Take down the lights lads now they're just keepsakes
The wheel's pinned to the bar room wall
The wheel house bound now for the skip mates
Let go the grab and watch it fall.

And the daylight fades along the sea wall
The waves break on my stupid heart
As this day ends it leaves a gap now
Never drawn upon my charts
As this day ends it leaves a gap now.