A tale from my home town of Exmouth
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Story behind the song
This is the story of William Carder who was lost from the Exmouth lifeboat crew in 1956 on Christmas Day. There was one newspaper article I found that gave me the full facts of the story. The new lifeboat station has a plaque with his name.
He used to run the Volunteer pub in the town centre but the pub was knocked down in the '80s to make was for a shopping centre. I vaguely remember the pub as a teenager; my sister remembers it better than I, and she says it was a rough old dive.
The link between the pub and the man drew me in and I've been working on this song for over a year. I tried to make it more than a just a story song, tried to find something deeper in the tale, something about the loss not just of a man but of some local history, In a tiny way this keeps the pub and the man alive, which I think is what a lot of folk songs were about, aural histories.
Lyrics
Verse
My name is Will Carder, I'll tell you a tale
Of us who look over you who set sail
I ran a tavern that used to be here
The lifeboatman's local, the old Volunteer
I was there in the bar on a wild Christmas day
When a vessel broke down out in the bay
Up went their flares, out went the call
For lifeboatmen, bowman, coxwain and all
Verse
We launched in the Exe and turned out to sea
But the wind and the rain were the worst we had seen
The coxwain kept fighting to turn the bow round
But waves hit us starboard and brought the mast down
But we gritted our teeth and pushed through the gale
And near Orcome Buoy I moved to the rail
I looked for light through the dark and the spray
When a twenty foot wave swept me away
Chorus
Raise up your glasses and drink down your beer
And we'll meet again in the old Volunteer
Fill up your glasses and give us a cheer
Then say a prayer for the old Volunteer
Verse
The boys out of Brixham came to our aid
Eight of us launched but seven were saved
They found me face down, dead in the surf
And buried me poor bones in Littleham Church
There's a butchers shop now where me pub used to be
And my name's on a plaque for those lost at sea
If anyone asks, tell them I'm here
Cause no-one calls time on the old Volunteer
Chorus
Raise up your glasses and drink down your beer
And we'll meet again in the old Volunteer
Fill up your glasses and give us a cheer
Then say a prayer for the old Volunteer
Chorus repeat
