Run Before the Wind

The sound samples are from the most representative section of a track. The times listed are the total track time, not the length of the sample! The samples range from one to two minutes in length.

Cappy John's Bride 5:19
© 1996 Fred Gosbee

Julia thought that Cappy John might need a new boat after his adventure on Down to the Shore (1991), so she put me up to writing this little ditty which was inspired by two sources. One was a song written in Prince Edward Island by Lawrence Doyle (1847-1907) about a deal concerning a horse. I sang it for Morag Hendricksen of Skye who told us that there is a tradition in the Outer Hebrides where a potential is described as a boat.

"Goomer" is a Maine-ism that means, roughly, "oaf". There is a word from old English,"gomer", which originally meant "groomsman" or perhaps "knave" which has evolved from meaning the man who curries the horse to the man who marries the bride. Are they related? Who knows.

"Bundling" is an old Canadian and New England custom where a courting couple is allowed to sleep in the same bed with a barricade of bolsters or sometimes a plank between them. These were supposed to act as speedbumps on love's highway.

When you sing this song, remember - it's about a boat!

Thanks to Doreen Conboy for the loan of the old Gibson mandolin.

Now a skipper that we know who was famous long ago
Was looking for a ship as his was run aground
Though it was sometimes stated 'twas the way he navigated
Ol' Cappy John was rated as the finest man around

Now there was a ship nearby that he wanted for to try
It belonged to Ned McKenzie and was called the Mary Beale
But old John was shy of girls and the place was full of curls
And he didn't have the nerve to go up and make his deal

She carries her bow high and her stern is nice and round
It's easy to hold her when she's sheeted down
She is my heart's desire and all that I require
Is that you let me try her when I come to town

Now the mate, whose name was Dan, up and says to the old man
"I can sound McKenzie out and then clear away the girls
I will see that it's alright if you want to go tonight
For that ship she is a sight, she's the best in all the world"

So Dan goes to McKenzie but somehow in all the frenzy
There was some misunderstanding and he got the message wrong
Or perhaps the silly goomer had a twisted sense of humor
But when Cappy came to woo her he was singing this song

CHORUS

McKenzie shook his hand and he says "I understand
that you want to take my Mary away from me
Now before with you I send her I must tell you she is tender
Which I'll thank you to remember when you take her out to sea"

So John says "Dan must have told that I want to fill her hold;
With a belly full of cargo I know she'll handle fine
I promise not to break her and if ever I forsake her,
Then I know the mate will take her for he's a friend of mine"

CHORUS

Says McKenzie "Are you mad? for you talk just like a cad
To throw my Mary over like some trollop in Rangoon
She isn't just some fun thing (though I might permit some bundling)
And now I will tell you something, you must make your offer soon"

Says John "I can't commit until one thing you permit
You must let me roll her over on the sand beside the bay
I will have my men inspect her and still I may reject her
If her bottom is neglected or has started to decay"

CHORUS

Says McKenzie "I can't stand it; you are worse than any bandit
Since the two of you have planned it 'tis yourselves that should begin"
He called Mary from the kitchenl; Cappy John he started twitchin'
But the girl she was bewitchin' and she smiled as she came in

Now the mate, he oiled the water, and the skipper got the daughter
He's as happy as an otter with his dear and blushing bride
Though it seemed a bright invention he'd the good sense not to mention
That it wasn't his intention, AND HE GOT THE SHIP BESIDES!

Englishman Stan Hugill, a shanteyman himself in the 1920s, collected the songs later in his life and was instrumental in preserving them and reviving the tradition. We saw him, in his eighties, singing lustily from the rigging of the Charles W Morgan at Mystic Seaport.

Lay on to the line one more time, old man.
Sing out and give us a working rhyme
Pull for the old man
These days the sails are just for show
But now, before you have to go
Tell us how it was so long ago, old man

Pull for the old man, pull!
We won't see his like again.
Pull for the old man, pull.
Pull for old Stan.

Your eyes have seen the working sail, old man,
In summer sun and winter gale
Pull for the old man
You've seen the sails replaced by oil
Gone the tops'l, course, and royal
And the songs that helped you with your toil old man

Your mind is sharp, your eyes are clear, old man
And your arm's still strong after eighty years
Pull for the old man
With your tattooed arm and rollong gait
Your silver hair and your beard so gray
You're a bridge through time to yesterday, old man

So have a drop of Nelson's blood, old man.
Then tell us about that scouse and grog
Pull for the old man
Within your songs and book we find
The treasure you had in your mind
And we thank you. You've been very kind, old man

Winds of Autumn 3:09
© 1986 Julia Lane

Rain lashes the windowpane lit by the glow of an oil lamp at the house on the sea cliff's top...

Oh blow ye winds of Autumn and turn ye leaves to gold
My cottage seems so empty and my bed it feels so cold
My love is on the ocean, he sails the briney sea
Oh blow ye winds of Autumn and bring him back to me

The winter seas will be rolling onto the rocky shore
The bells will be a- tolling for sailors who are no more
My love is on the ocean, he sails the briney sea
Oh blow ye winds of Autumn and bring him back to me

Captain Foss's Hornpipe/Sailor's Joy
©1995 Julia Lane

A couple of salty tunes for dancing on the deck. Captain John Foss operates the schooner American Eagle out of Rockland, Maine, carrying folks to adventure on Penobscot Bay and beyond.

Brett Burnham - bones

Changes 5:31
© 1996 Fred Gosbee

I have been blessed in my lifetime to see the revival of rivers here in Maine. The Clean Water Act of the 1960's was initiated in the U.S. Senate by the Maine Delegation and became the lynchpin for the environmental reforms which have led to improving air and water quality since then all across the country. You can't let your guard down, though. There always seem to be people out there who cut corners to save a little cash for their interests, usually stockholders these days. When something goes wrong we all pay in many ways

Claire Curtis - concertina, chorus vocals
Gary Clancy - bass

The river runs down and the tide rolls in
It's the same way now that it always has been
The changes in the river, the changes in the sea
Are the changes made by you and by me

What is more lovely than the light on the water
As the moon rises over the bay?
What is more peaceful than a murmuring stream
in the warmth of a long summer's day?
When life gets too crazy and things move too fast
I go the the river and find
The hours spent listening, the hours spent watching
Can bring a deep peace to my mind

CHORUS

Well I remember the streams in the forest
Where I wandered when I was a boy
It seemed to be magic, for each time I'd go there
Was a time filled with wonder and joy
Fishing for trout at the old beaver dam
And the log where I sometimes fell in
A time of adventure, a time of exploring;
I wish I could be there again

CHORUS

Most of my life I have lived near a river
A lake or sometimes the sea
I know well the power, have seen all the fury
But that's not what's troubling me
For I have seen greedy ones poison the waters
For the sake of a few dollars saved
When the waste from the mills or the oil that is spilled
Turns a living world into a grave

CHORUS

The Whale Hunters 2:56
© 1993 Fred Gosbee

Although Maine was never a center for commercial whaling, ships were built here for the purpose and whales were abundant in our coastal waters

Mark McNeil - bass, percussion

We set out from Portugal in 1634,
Sailed to Baffin Bay and built our tryworks on the shore.
We had come to hunt the right whale and there they did abound.
There were whales in that bay to last forever.

Set your iron, throw the lance and make the kill.
Tow him to the shore; bend your back, boys, with a will!
When that oil is in the hold it will be as good as gold
And there are whales enough to last forever.

We set out from New Bedford in 1853;
To find our catch of whales we had to search the seven seas.
Right whales being scarce we took the humpback sperm & gray
But the seas are wide enough to last forever.

Set your iron, throw the lance and make the kill.
Tow him to the ship; bend your back, boys, with a will!
When that oil is in the hold it will be as good as gold
And there are whales enough to last forever.

We left our port in Russia in 1951
In a deisel powered factory ship armed with a harpoon gun.
The blue and fin that were too fast we now run down with ease
And those whales are big enough to last forever.

Fire your gun let the harpoon make the kill;
Winch him up the ramp and run him through the mill.
When that oil is in the hold it will be as good as gold
And there are whales enough to last forever.

It's 1995 as we set out from Japan;
This is not commercial whaling for there is a whaling ban.
We take them for the research but we don't waste the meat
And we still make profit 'cause we're clever.

Fire your gun; let the harpoon make the kill;
Winch him up the ramp and run him through the mill.
When that oil is in the hold it will be as good as gold
And we'll get our share before they're gone forever.

Fire your gun; let the harpoon make the kill.
We can get around the treaty with our diplomatic skill.
When that oil is in the hold it will be as good as gold!

The Phantom Ship 3:32
© 1995 Julia Lane

Maine's treacherous rocky coastline has caused many a shipwreck and tales of ghost ships abound

When you went down to the shore last night what did you see?
Did you see a lofty ship sailing fast and free?
Sail away, sail away, sailing fast and free
Sail away, sail away, across the moonlit sea

When I went down to the shore last night a ship I saw
And the moon was like a shining sail there in the rigging tall
Shine away, shine away, there in the rigging tall
Shine away, shine away, a light to guide them all

And there upon that moonlit ship did you see a man
Who stood so tall upon the deck with sailors at command
Standing tall, standing tall, with sailors at command
Standing tall, standing tall so strong of voice and hand

Alas I saw no captain brave standing tall and true
Indeed I saw not a soul on board, neither captain or crew
Not a soul, not a soul did man the ship as she flew
Not a soul, not a soul, and the wind in the rigging blew

Stone Sloops 3:34
©1995 Fred Gosbee

This song was commissioned by Robert Brown of Chebeague Island for the Island Historical Society. He said that he would "rather have it right than Tuesday" so it took me a while to get it together.

Mark McNeil - guitar, bass, chorus vocals

In the 19the century along the coast of Maine
There used to sail a fleet of ships there's none like them today
Built for heavy hauling gravel stone and sand
There were no donkey engines then, men pulled the lines by hand
They carried just a singlremast to keep the wide deck clear
The heavy boom when tied athwart left room for lifting gear
They were not built for beauty, they were not built for speed
But for a hundred years or more they served our country's need

Stone sloops from Eastport to Chebeague
Preferred for heavy hauling to ship or schooner rig
Stone sloops sailing far and wide
For a hundred years and more they were the people's pride

After independence our nation was in need
Of stone to build our cities and stone to pave our streets
Quarries by the hundred were along the coast of Maine
To get that stone to market was the stone sloops aim
90 feet in length 30 feet from rail to rail
With a thousand yards of canvas in a single mighty sail
Owned by the captain, named for the captain's wife
It wasn't just a business it was a way of life

CHORUS

The sloops would set out in the spring to find a job to do
With a captain and a mate and a boy to cook for crew
They would work way down in Canada, in Boston or New York
Until the end of June they would stay where there was work
July they'd sail for home just to see the family
But after picnic and parade they'd all return to sea
And be gone until November when the wind began to freeze
Then home to moor for winter in some protected lee

CHORUS

As the years went rolling on fewer sloops set sail
Just a sign of changing times replaced by truck and rail
Junked out and abandoned another one each year
With hardly any notice the stone sloops disappeared
So all that's left is memories and stories handed down
But now it's been collected and in a book it's bound
The ships the captain's families, the tales the old salts tell
The folks down on Chebeague they have kept these treasures well

Chorus

When Jula was a child she and her brother would spend summers hanging about the fisherman's co-op in New Harbor, Maine. There were four retired fishermen - Julian Beale, Manley Gilbert, Frankie Osier, and Paul Rieley, who presided over the storytelling, and would give them broken clams to use for bait to catch flounder.

The sign in the first verse is a classic poster which says, "Cows may come and cows may go but the bull in here goes on forever."

Claire Curtis - concertina, chorus vocals

Oh what has become of the old liars all
Julian and Manley and Frankie and Paul ?
Down at the co-op when fish weren't so few
They'd lie through their teeth and they'd swear it was true

On warm afternoons in the summer we'd go
With handline and bucket to the harbor below
To the dock with the rope and the chains and the spars
Where the weathered old planks smelled of bait and of tar
The fish house was piled high with old fishing gear
With a sign that said something 'bout "All the bull here"
In a big leather armchair a white-haired old man
Would give us a soda and a handful of clams

CHORUS

Sometimes there were others who sat in the shack
A-telling their stories of fishing 'way back
When the weather was better or worse than right now
They always would say it was bigger somehow
They'd tell of the days when they hauled traps by hand
Out in their dories away from the land
In the winter they'd row till their hands would turn blue
And some of the stories you knew could be true

CHORUS

But then they'd continue with never a smile
And tell of the day when they rowed fifty miles
Blinded by fogbanks and capsized by storms
And rescued by mermaids with gold on their arms
Then there was the one 'bout the fisherman's ghost
Doomed to eternity because of a boast
His coming would warn all the sailors of gales
The wilder the weather, the stranger their tales

CHORUS

Then we'd run down the gangplank and bait up our lines
And drop the weight down where the flounder are fine
And wait for the tug that sometimes never came
Then we'd go up and bother the old men again
And now that they're gone I feel empty inside
Though people will tell me their jaw was all lies
Their tales were as true as the tide and the breeze
My children will never hear stories like these

Julia never met my great-grandparents, John and Helen (or maybe Walter and Grace) West, but she heard how after sixteen children and 65 years together they would sit on their porch and hold hands. She wrote this tune for Helen Grace but it really is for all grandmothers; those grand ladies who seem to glide through the storms in their lives.

I wrote this for my dad, who navigated some rough waters in his time.

May there always be safe haven from the storm
May the sun glow softly on your skin
May the stars shine bright, may the dawn come clear
May you always run before the wind

May you always find a kind and listening ear
May the stranger think of you as kin
May the stars shine bright, may the dawn come clear
May you always run before the wind

And if the world turns you upside down
Remember, it keeps turning 'round

May the tears you shed be only those of joy
May you always be glad of where you've been
May the stars shine bright, may the dawn come clear
May you always run before the wind

Run Before the Wind 1996