Lyr Req: Oysters in New Haven Harbor

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oysters in New Haven Harbour
From: EBarnacle
Date: 08 Jul 08 - 08:17 PM

According to "The Clearwater Songbook," page 72, the attribution should be: words--Keith Sullivan, melody--Malvina Reynolds, "The faucets are dripping."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oysters in New Haven Harbour
From: Barry Finn
Date: 08 Jul 08 - 05:00 PM

I spent my summers as a kid on Bass River. It's a tidel rive on the Natucket Sound side of Cape Cod. We used to clam, crab, pick scollops & oysters off the sand bars at low tide, there was an abundance of marine shellfish, both on the river banks, in the river & along the ocean beaches. It wasn't overfished as only a few of the locals really ever took advantage to these pickings. Shellfish was cheap in those days & it was easier to buy from the local fish markets. Then the fisheries closed off many of the beds to protect & preserve them. But the couldn't keep them safe from the assult on the enviorment. Today when I visit my mother who still lives on the river there is nothing. When I pass the dry sandbars I show my kids where we use to forage for food. There are no crabs, the marshes are lifelees of the ells, horseshoe crabs, blue crabs, etc, the bars are completely dried up of mussels, clams, scollops, oysters, etc.
There's no myth that's my eyes are seeing, just my misty eyes.

Barry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oysters in New Haven Harbour
From: GUEST,Old Salt
Date: 08 Jul 08 - 11:30 AM

This is Tom Callinan's song from his album, "Saturday Night at Sea."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oysters in New Haven Harbour
From: Ole Bull
Date: 19 Nov 99 - 08:31 AM

When I was a lad growing up on Long Island sound I had never seen an oyster, and I presumed that they must have hid out in the mud or something and it took special skills to ferret them out. Today when I go back to visit I am astonished at the oyster shells that litter the beach. Now I know that there is still "sewage in New Haven Harbor", maybe as much as there ever was (nitrite happens!). So what gives? I'll tell you another thing. No longer can you see the abundance of starfish that we waded thru as kids. Could this be only a case of rising and falling levels of competitive species? Don't tell me that Pete Seeger was trying to put one over on us! Now I know that Myth makes for better folk music(and good soul-stiring propaganda) than does Science, but I really would like to hear from someone on this subject who knows what they are talking about (and can fend off the PC)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oysters in New Haven Harbour
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 19 Nov 99 - 12:00 AM

Sorry about the spelling errort's should be ASBESTOS ~~~ WROTE etc., etc. It's too late I need to get to bed.

Cap't Bob

Subject: Lyr Add: OYSTERS IN NEW HAVEN HARBOR
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 18 Nov 99 - 11:53 PM

The only place I've heard this song is on the "Clearwater" album. I have it on an LP but it's probably available on a CD by now.

CHORUS: You can't eat the oysters in New Haven harbor.
You can't eat the oysters that live in the bay,
For New Haven sewage is dumping down on them.
If I were an oyster, I'd get out today.

The life of an oyster can be pretty hard,
When New Haven sewage is dumped in their yard.
We see it once and flush it away,
But the oysters must live with it day after day. CHORUS

So they are taking the oysters from New Haven Harbor
And carrying them over to Long Island Sound,
Where the oysters can nourish, their families flourish,
And New Haven sewage is not to be found.

Some people think they are pretty damned clever.
They think once they flush it, it's gone off forever,
But they better remember where the sewers all meet,
The next time they ask for an oyster to eat.

Now what would you do, if you were an oyster,
And New Haven sewage was dumping on you?
Would you lie there in fright or stand up and fight?
If you're looking for ideas, well, we've got a few.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX Some time back I wrote some other words to this song that seemed more suited to the Great Lakes area:

CHORUS: Oh, you can't eat the lake trout that swim in Lake Michigan.
You can't eat the lake trout in Grand Traverse Bay.
They're filled with PBB, DDT, PCB's.
If I were a lake trout, I'd get out today.

We all know Lake Michigan is a fisherman's dream.
Teaming with fishes, a paradise it may seem;
But they're filled with chemicals from arsenic to lead,
If they get in your system, you could end up dead. CHORUS

Beautiful Lake Superior seems pretty clean,
But the asbestos fibers are too small to be seen.
They get in the water. They get in the fish.
They may even end up on your serving dish. CHORUS

Blue Lake Huron is even much worse,
And Saginaw Bay is a chemical curse.
Seagulls that fly there, die there, they say.
If I were a seagull, I'd fly far away. CHORUS

Poor Lake Erie can't take it no more,
With all of those factories lining her shore.
What they are doing at Fermi no one really knows,
But don't get caught downwind if she ever blows. CHORUS

Lake Ontario's at the end of the chain.
With all of those cities she is feeling the strain.
The folks in Toronto must stay on the land,
Because swimming in the water has already been banned. CHORUS

We sang the oyster version one time at a yacht club only to find out later that they were having a special on oysters on the half shell that night.

CAP'T BOB

Subject: Oysters in New Haven Harbour
From: Susan A-R
Date: 17 Nov 99 - 11:16 PM

My friend Beth taught me some of the lyrics to this one, and they stick, so be careful. Does anyone know others?

You can't eat the oysters in New Haven Harbour.
You can't eat the oysters that live in the bay,
'Cause New Haven sewage is dumping down on them.
If I were an oyster, I'd get out today.

If you were an oyster in New Haven Harbour,
And New Haven sewage was dumping on you,
Would you lie down in fright, or stand up and fight?
If you need ideas, well, we've got a few.

More words, please?

Susan