Songs about the lure of the sea.

Subject: Lyr Add: Like the Sea^^
From: The Shambles
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 06:24 PM

The Tall Ships Race was starting locally and my daughter informed us that she was going to leave home and sign on to one of these vessels. In the end she didn't but it did inspire this, which is an adolescent's song to their loved ones.

Like The Sea

I've a notion to sail the ocean
And drift where the winds do blow free
Far from the choices and from the voices
That know best, what I should be
I'm like the sea before me
On the surface calm and serene
Who knows what forces and from what sources
Stir in the depths unseen

As I cast off on my journey
What of those who made history?
What advice can be offered
To those who sail uncharted seas

The great adventurers, did not venture
Too far from the virgin shore
They claim their prizes and as the sun rises
They seek more land to explore
I'm like the sea before me
Well charted but still a mystery
I'm not revealing, all that I'm feeling
If you look you may discover me

Maiden voyagers are not fearful
For they don't think that they could fail
You've kept me safe within your harbour
Now it's time to set sail

You may be fearing, this course I'm steering
Will lead me far from your door
When the sounds of goodbye, starts the clouds in your eyes
Remember I couldn't love you more
I'm like the sea before me
My colours change from blue to grey
Windy and wild, or asleep like a child
What mood will I display?

Roger Gall 1997

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 06:32 PM

Nice one Shambles and a different perspective but when the lure of the sea is mentioned, I think Sea Fever will always remain my favourite.

Jon

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Mbo
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 06:42 PM

Thanks for that song, Roger. I know exactly how your daughter felt, and I might be doing something about it real soon. Stay tuned...

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 06:47 PM

check out Lure of the Sea in DigiTrad. Also Sea Chill.

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: JenEllen
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 12:40 PM

Bright summer days like today I really miss the sea. Pulled out a tape of favorite sea songs. What about Heave Your Ho or Farewell to Labrador? Beautiful stuff.

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: karen k
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 01:55 PM

Really like this one, Shambles. I love the ocean and sail whenever I get the chance and of course sing all the sea/sailing songs that I can. Will add this one to my list for sure. Is there a tune? Or should I find one that fits? This really seems to me to be a beautifully worded piece about growing up in general, as well as song of the sea. You certainly have a wonderful way with words.

Thanks,
k

Subject: Lyr Add: SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Tom Waits)
From: mactheturk
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 02:25 PM

SHIVER ME TIMBERS
(Tom Waits)
As recorded by Tom Waits on "The Heart of Saturday Night" (1974)

1. I'm leavin' my family, leavin' all my friends.
My body's at home but my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines on a new front-page sky,
My tears are salt water, and the moon's full and high.

2. I know Martin Eden's gonna be proud of me.
Many before me have been called by the sea
To be up in the crow's nest, singin' my say.
Shiver me timbers! 'Cause I'm a-sailin' away.

3. And the fog's liftin', the sand's shiftin', I'm driftin' on out.
Ol' Captain Ahab, he ain't got nothin' on me.
So swallow me, don't follow me; I'm travelin' alone,
Blue water's my daughter and I'm gonna skip like a stone.

4. So please call my missus, gotta tell her not to cry,
'Cause my goodbye is written by the moon in the sky.
Hey and nobody knows me; I can't fathom my stayin',
And shiver me timbers 'cause I'm a-sailin' away.

REPEAT 3 & 1.

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 02:58 PM

My favorite verse about the lure of the sea, specifically, occurs in Farewell to Carlingford:

Now a landsman's life is all his own
He can go or he can stay
But once the sea gets in your blood
When she calls you must obey!

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 03:39 PM

For a different perspective, try Kipling's "Harp Song of the Dane Women," put to music by Gordon Bok on his CD "Schooners". Which, by the way, I highly recommend to all who love ships and the sea. It's available through Gordon's Timberhead Music label.

What is a woman that you'd forsake her
And the hearth fire, and the home acre
To go with the old grey widow-maker?

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 03:50 PM

The song the sea sings when it touches our land, in all it's moods, caressing or lashing.

Skipjack

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: The Shambles
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 04:34 PM

I will have to work on a way of getting the tunes across. Maybe try this 'Hear Me' thingy or putting them on a website? I have tried to find a well-known melody that they could be sung to but I could not do it. I think I have tried so hard to ensure that the tunes I come up with, have not already been used, that it is impossible to do it in reverse……………'Which was nice'……….

Is romantic lure that the sea has for my daughter the same one that causes young men to 'run off to sea', or is the attraction different to the more practically minded?

Since I was old enough to make the choice, I have lived by the sea or on islands. Being bought up inland (whilst being surrounded by sea), I do remember well my first sight, taste, smell and feel of the ocean. Is the magic of this experience denied to those who are bought up by the sea?

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Night Owl
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 04:45 PM

No, here Shambles....the magic and awe persists. Great lyrics as usual!!!!

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: sledge
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 10:00 AM

Once the sea has its hooks in, its very difficult to shake it off.

I live by the sea when not at work. Unfortunatley I work in the Saharah and miss the sea greatly, so I rely on a couple of sea song CD's to take the edge off, still a month is a loooooooooong time to day dream.

Subject: Lyr Add: DUNA (M Pickthall, J McGill)^^
From: kendall
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 01:51 PM

One of my favorites is called DUNA:

DUNA
Words by Marjorie Pickthall; music by Josephine McGill, ©1914.

When I was a little {lad/lass} with folly on my lips
Fain was I for journeying all the seas in ships.
But now across the southern swell, every dawn I hear
The little streams of Duna, running clear.

When I was a young {man, before my beard was gray/maid, and life was glad and gay},
All to ships and sailormen I gave my heart away.
But I'm weary of the sea-wind; I'm weary of the foam
And the little stars of Duna call me home.

Subject: Lyr Add: Die Lappen hoch^^
From: Rollo
Date: 02 Jul 00 - 02:22 PM

Well, there are many beautiful songs about the call of the sea, but somehow the ones that touch me most are those about the world you left behind on shore... like "Rolling home" and such things. Maybe because people of the coast know about the sea and fear its call? Far more german sailors have come from bavaria and saxony than from the coastal regions.

We call the ocean "Blanker Hans" you may say "clean, bright jack", and when he calls the sailor, he will keep him deep in his bottom.

but here is a german song about the lure of the sea, it was written by Jurij, a member of german "Youth movement".

I have tried to translate it for you:

set sails, we want to travel, pull the sheet, ohe! there are many thousand miles, to sail over the sea

refrain: set the sail, anchor away, here now and there next day

and when the boat has landed in lee of the lagoon on the beach fortune will smile, will smile for us so soon

forever you would stay there, never sailing away, wasn't it for the sailing, the wind and the ocean gray...

1. Die Lappen hoch, wir wollen sailen, hol an die Schot, ohe! Sind viele tausend Meilen, zu segeln über See.

Ref: Die Lappen hoch, die Anker fort, heute hier und morgen dort!

2. Wenn einst am Lagunenrande, in Lee liegt unser Boot, lacht uns das Glück am Strande, am Strande gelb und rot

Ref: Die Lappen hoch...

3. Und nie würdest weiter Du segeln, ewig bliebest Du dann, ja wenn nicht wäre das Sailen, der Wind und der Ozean...

Ref: Die Lappen hoch...

Subject: Lyr Add: Come Away to Sea (Wilcox)^^
From: mactheturk
Date: 03 Jul 00 - 10:43 AM

In the song "Come Away To Sea", by David Wilcox an analogy is made between music and the wind. The guitar is a simple craft that can sail our heart.

COME AWAY TO SEA
(David Wilcox)

The wind is right for sailing
the tide is right to go
So come away to sea with me
There's things that you should know

So let your heart sail with me
We'll cast away from town
And we'll sail away on music
Inside this simple sound

This simple craft I play upon
Is made from wooden parts
It's never sailed the ocean
But it sure can sail my heart

And if you feel the music
then we've raised another sail
The ocean wraps this world around
The wind will never fail

Sail around this sound
Far away from shore
Come away to sea with me
Sail your heart once more

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Bagpuss
Date: 03 Jul 00 - 10:51 AM

My favourite sea songs:

Ready for the Storm - Dougie McLean

Me by the Sea - Edie Brickell

Martha's Harbour - All About Eve

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: kendall
Date: 03 Jul 00 - 11:00 AM

Stan Rogers "Lock Keeper" is a winner

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 03 Jul 00 - 11:04 AM

Sea Feaver (it's in the DT)

I must go down to the seas again,
to the lonely sea and the sky.

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 03 Jul 00 - 11:35 AM

Hmmm...

How about.. -
I must go back to the sea again
To the lonely sea and the sky
I left my socks and shoes down there
I wonder if they're dry?....

Only Joking...

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 03 Jul 00 - 11:39 AM

For a song that really speaks of a longing for the sea even against all the dictates of commonsense, and economic necessity.. "Farewell Tae The Haven"...

My blicky skills have let me down in this regard.. but if you search the discussion forum the lyrics and tune are in there...

Cheers

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Night Owl
Date: 03 Jul 00 - 10:30 PM

Scabby Doug.....that's a great beginning,....got a chorus and a few more verses??? lol

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 03 Jul 00 - 11:21 PM

According to Penny and Amos in this thread:

Spike Milligan, parody,

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
I left my shoes and socks there, I wonder if they're dry.

Penny

__________________________________________________________________

For the sand of the seas gets between your toes
And the salt sea wets your stockings
So I must return where the long tide flows
Just to check -- nope, they're still sopping!

A

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 12:20 AM

Shambles, try Noteworthy Composer. I don't have a link for you but I think there's one in Mudcat Links. Once I figured out how to do it, it's a neat way to transcribe your own tunes and then send them to Dick at the DT or anybody else. You can send your tunes as MIDI files or as Noteworthy Composer files, which can include all the fancy musical doodads as well as chords and lyrics. I've only scratched the surface so far. It will also work with direct MIDI input, if you have one of those animals.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Songs about:: The lure of the sea.
From: GUEST,Auxiris
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 03:34 AM

There's a gorgeous song on Kitty Donahoe's first album (Farmer in Florida) called "When the West Wind Blows" which is all about the lure of the sea. Will have to find the tape if anyone is interested in the lyrics.

cheers, Aux