Boat Songs

Well tonight's blog post is being written offline, as my net is, as usual, sketchy during this storm. Yes, I plug in to whatever WiFi my antenna can pull up, as there is no dedicated service at the marina, and there is usually a bit of residual (read free) internet floating around. I don't pay for service, so I guess I am a pirate, but I figure I am saving about $70 a month, and although my internet connection is intermittant, it usually is not as bad as it is right now. Tonight it is bad because I am bouncing around in the remains of what was hurricane and then tropical storm Ida, which is now a N'or Easter stalled somewhere between Georgia and North Carolina. Seems that what was supposed to be an evening of steady rain is now going to be 3 days of steadier rain. Go figure, I have things I need to do, and not only am I fighting the clock (daylight savings having gone away) I am fighting the calendar and now the weather too. And how can it be a N'or Easter if it came from the southwest? I know, I know, the winds come in from the northeast, but the storm came in from the southwest. Maybe a southwester just doesn't roll of the tongue as well, heck if I know.


This post was going to be about boating music, but I need the net to reference some of the lyrics I wanted to plagiarize. I mean use. I mean use as example of good songs to sail to. No matter, we will slog on regardless, and hopefully the lyrics will be correct, and if I just happen to butcher them, I apologize ahead of time.

Have you ever noticed that so many songs that reference sailing and life at sea are soaked in lyrics extolling alcohol? From pirate ditties to the entire Jimmy Buffet library, the songs we sing, listen to and love all seem to portray us as a bunch of drunkards and scallywags. "Yo ho ho ho and a bottle of rum" otherwise known as "Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest" has to be the most widely known song associated with seafaring. A true classic, evokes visions of pirate ships, scallywags and vagabonds. Jimmy Buffet captured the spirit of island hopping in his songs-sun, sand, island beaches, coconut oiled, bikini clad island girls...ok, my mind wanders, but you get the point. Now there is a huge cross over of country music singers singing about the islands. What the Caribbean has to do with country music I( have no idea, i bet there isn't one country music station in all of Jamaica, ( I am going to find out first hand) but the country stars seem to flock to those island paradises and write a ton of songs about island life and living - must be a mental getaway for that cotton farmer in Mississippi while he is working those fields.
So here are a few of my favorites, some new, some old, some of them are kind of obscure, but all are good listening. I am going to include them as links, as I am able, so that you can go to whatever site they are on and listen to what I listen to as I sail aboard the good ship Arden.


Capn Jack's Sailing Song List
Pirates of the Carri bean Sound Track. This is just one song of many I have on my computer, but the majority the songs from the first movie are so powerful, so moving, and so....seaworthy. Whenever I need a lift while sailing or need to feel like I am going faster than I actually am, I will play this on the stereo. Besides, I was Captain Jack a long time before he was.

When the Sun Goes Down - Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker define my image of island life - this is why I am going where I am going.

I can't include all the Jimmy Buffett songs I love, but here are a few...

Margaritaville - the classic Jimmy Buffett song. We all have heard it, we all know it, and in some way, we all love it.

A Pirate Looks at 40 - Jimmy Buffett
Changes in Attitudes, Changes in Latitudes - Jimmy Buffett
Son of a Son of a Sailor - Jimmy Buffett
Volcano - Jimmy Buffett
Bama Breeze - Jimmy Buffett - from what I have been able to find on the net, the Bama Breeze is actually the Flora-Bama Lounge, in Perdido Key in Florida, six feet from the Alabama state line.
Boat Drinks - Jimmy Buffett
Its Five O'Clock Somewhere - Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett - Just one more reason to break out the blender and make a pitcher of cold smooth ones.
Toes - The Zac Brown Band - what a great modern island song. Another country crossover.
Annapolis Shuffle - Them Eastport Oysterboys - These guys are great! They are a duet out of Annapolis (of course) and perform original song written about life on The Bay. I would definitely recommend looking them up, and getting a CD of your own.
Backcreek Crab - Them Eastport Oysterboys - I think there is a Back Creek in every county here in MD. I know there are crabs in every creek here in Southern Maryland. This is a tale of my summer here...
A Good Hat, A Good Dog, A Good Boat - Them Eastport Oyster Boys - need I say more?

These are just a few of my favorites, good songs to listen to under sail, or on a rainy, windy night riding out a N'or Easter at the dock or on the hook.

A Pirate Looks at Forty

Mother, mother ocean,

I have heard you call,

Wanted to sail upon your waters

since I was three feet tall.

You've seen it all, you've seen it all.

Watch the men who rode you,

Switch from sails to steam.

And in your belly

you hold the treasure

that few have ever seen,

most of them dreams, Most of them dreams.

Yes, I am a pirate

two hundred years too late.

The cannons don't thunder

there's nothin' to plunder

I'm an over forty victim of fate

Arriving too late, arriving too late.

But I've done a bit of smugglin'

I've run my share of grass.

I made enough money to buy Miami,

But I pissed it away so fast,

Never meant to last, never meant to last.

I have been drunk now

for over two weeks,

I passed out and I rallied

and I sprung a few leaks,

But I've got to stop wishin',

Got to go fishin', I'm down to rock bottom again.

Just a few friends, just a few friends.

Instrumental

Now I go for younger women,

lived with several awhile

And though I ran away,

hey they come back one day.

And still can manage a smile

It just takes awhile, just takes awhile.

Mother, mother ocean,

after all my years I've found

My occupational hazard being my occupations

just not around.

I feel like I've drowned, but I won't wear a frown,

(No way Jose)
I feel like I've drowned,

Oh I've got a night off to get in trouble in old Boston Town…
Aaarg!