Heave-Ho

4 hours ago by @kaiju_tea_party

Liner Notes

#lyricsonly #lyrics #collaborationswelcome #sea #shanty #whaling #folk

This song started out as a Tom Waits inspired song about the patrons of a bar by the shore. You can still hear the remnants of that in the first stanza of Verse II until it starts being about whales instead. Even though the setting changed a lot of the same themes survived.

And a couple of things I was trying to work in but didn't quite fit: I love the idea of referring to the crew as skeletons since it fits really well but skeleton is a hard word to fit in the meter so it didn't make it. Still got the reference to bones, though. Also the line "The ocean foams like the head of a beer". Also cut because of meter and because I couldn't figure out a place for it with what each of the verses were about but I still like that line.

I don't know if I'll get to putting this one to music but if anyone wants to take a shot at it I'd love to hear others interpretations

Lyrics

Verse I:
We've followed this whale
For a week and a night
Time moves so quickly
Stars wheel in the sky

The spray stings our eyes
And the wind fills our wings
When the hunted arise
Ya hear the crew sing

Chorus:
Heave-Ho
Heave-Ho
She give and she take
When you've no place to go

Heave-Ho
Heave-Ho
We follow their wake
And we strike for the blow

Verse II:
Saint Brendan is with us
Drink down to your bones
The ocean is vicious
You're a long way from home

So swallow your courage
And hoist up the sails
Come ruin or wreckage
We're singing for whales

Chorus:
Heave-Ho
Heave-Ho
She give and she take
When you've no place to go

Heave-Ho
Heave-Ho
We follow their wake
And we strike for the blow

Verse III:
During my vigil
When I'm tied to the mast
I hear the songs
Of my forgotten past

My Father and Mother
Brothers and kin
I've forgotten all others
When the next song begins

Chorus:
Heave-Ho
Heave-Ho
She give and she take
When you've no place to go

Heave-Ho
Heave-Ho
We follow their wake
And we strike for the blow

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