I need a common, well-known tune for this, and nothing is coming to mind. I wrote another parlor-trickle song a few weeks ago, called "Too Much for Our Whistle," and it fit so many tunes I had no problem (I ended up with "Red River Valley").

So what comes to your mind with these words?


TURN THE BOAT AROUND

The president flew to a carrier to show us his allure,
The fighting declared "over," and victory assured.
But San Diego was visible, there in the background,
So the order soon was given, "Turn the boat around."

Chorus:

Turn the boat around, that's what the people say.
The course our leader's setting is exactly the wrong way.
The compass reads "disaster," you'll run us hard aground,
So someone tell the skipper, "Turn the boat around."

We set sail a while ago, a new skipper at the wheel,
He claimed he'd keep us going straight, we thought that was the deal.
Then he made a sudden hard-right turn, set course for bloody war,
And still won't level with us about what he did it for.

Chorus

Turn the boat around … etc.

He claimed that he'd found danger right there in white and black,
And the cause of all that danger was in far-away Iraq.
Weapons, terror, poison gas, "newk-u-lar" missiles, too,
All waiting, primed and ready to target me and you.

Chorus

Turn the boat around … etc.

So off we went, a-shooting, and we tore 'em a new one.
With the press and media riding along, to show us all the fun.
We never found the weapons, nor the poison gas and such,
And the folks whose land we shot to hell don't like us very much.

Chorus

Turn the boat around … etc.


This is the "ship of state," not another "photo op,"
And when it gets to going, it's damn-all hard to stop.
But if we can turn a carrier just to confuse the press,
Then we can turn the country 'round, and save us from this mess.

Chorus

Turn the boat around … etc.



Copyright ©2003 Bob Clayton