Shipping Out - solo version
A sailor watches his old shipmate leaving on the tide - and wishes he was going too
Celtic influenced Folk
Currently play as half a duo Steph and Al - me guitar and vocals, Steph violin.
Story behind the song
It's a song about longing - to be young, free and single again, and knowing that it's too late!
Lyrics
Shipping Out
Now 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 left it too late, you’ll never make mate
but there’s plenty of grub and your spirits on tick.
Well 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
it’s all rush and speed, roll off and roll on
but some things don’t change, there’ll always be found.
A tanker where life is all sea and steel,
millionaire’s badge on her stack,
and you crawl in the sludge, deep down by the keel,
while they burn your last cargo before you get back.
What manner 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?
Are you a flying-fish sailor now John,
with the sun beating hard on your back,
and you're meeting your 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 those 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
