Track 5 of our CD Tears No More. Made in 2012 and sold to raise money for Many Tears Animal Rescue. Al Coy - acoustic guitar, bass guitar and vocals, Steph Elder - cello and clarinet, Paul Hayes - Keys and recording.
Celtic influenced Folk
Currently play as half a duo Steph and Al - me guitar and vocals, Steph violin.
Story behind the song
Liverpool, its ships, docks and people fascinated me as I grew up and I wanted to escape my drab hometown and ship out down that Mersey River with a longing for adventure and freedom. But time passes and now the longing is for lost youth....!
In the song 'Old Sailor John' watches as an old shipmate leaves the Mersey and wishes he was going too!
Lyrics
Shipping Out
Where are you bound to old Sailor John,
in your patched faded blue dungarees,
with your arse pocket stretched by a half jar of rum,
your bleary eyes fogged by the booze?
What kind of packet ship have you signed on
with containers stacked high on her deck
you’ve left it too late, you’ll never make mate
but there’s plenty of grub and your spirits on tick.
I guess that she’s not some rusty old tramp,
spending endless days alongside,
where you’re passing your time, pissed out of your mind,
with a sweet sweaty whore by your side.
Those days are long gone for us, Sailor John,
it’s containers and quick turn a round’s,
it’s all rush and speed, roll off and roll on
but some things don’t change, and there’ll always be found
A tanker where life is all sea and steel,
with a millionaire’s badge on her stack,
you crawl in the sludge, deep down by the keel,
and they burn your last cargo before you get back.
What kind of sailor boy are you old John,
a bull-shit, brass-bound liner man?
Or a coasting boat sailor – four off and four on,
grabbing your kip, whenever you can?
Or are you a flying-fish sailor now John,
with the sun beating hard on your back,
where you meet your old mates in a waterfront bar
you share the same girl and the craic.
Or is it the cold western ocean she plies,
under grey skies leaden with sleet,
where you spend weary days on the look-out for ice
with a wet rolling deck, icy, under your feet?
But my life is easy now, old Sailor John,
no toil, no discomfort, no wet
with a wife safe ashore, grandkids and more
I should feel right contented, and yet
I am plagued by desire, a hungering need
to cast off the comforts of shore
to ship outward bound, to feel youthful and free
and to steam down the Mersey River once more,
yes to steam down the Mersey once more
I’ll cast off from that old Mersey shore …………….
From a poem by Ken Davies
