We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A Whaler's Lament

from Tide, Timber and Grain by Paul Handyside

supported by
/
  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Lovingly crafted 4 Page card Digipak with 8 page booklet. Sold to you direct from the artist.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Tide, Timber and Grain via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £0.75 GBP  or more

     

lyrics

We were chasing the wind for Blue and Right whales / when the lookout would shout we'd cling to the rails / As we rode to the kill we felt bold and alive / in the year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and five // But down in the harbour the flensing would start / barrels are filled and sent to the mart / For the oil in your lamps and bones for your tools / wait 'til they come up to blow with a harpoon to throw // The very next year when our season cut short / we said our farewells to friends, family and port / We'll follow our prey and run them aground / on the good ship Naroona we’re Newfoundland bound // No hiding from the stench / no respite from the cold / delivered to stations our dirty white gold / We'd drink into the evening and sang 'til we cried / wait 'til they come up to blow with a harpoon to throw // Now the new ships are big they swallow the catch / no escape for the beast it's no sport it's no match / Watched a mother and calf break the surface to cries / and felt no remorse at the look in her eyes // To the orders of our masters we'd work through the freeze / until we completed the rape of the seas / For the fuel of an empire in its slow decline / one day they won't come up to blow with a harpoon to throw // Takes more than the good book and luck to survive / despatches from home take weeks to arrive / In the hand of an angel / the scent of a girl / wrapped in a ribbon and bow with kisses to blow // But when my father took ill I had to return to care for my loved ones and what I could earn / So I followed the men with picks in their hand / through the coal fields and slags of East Northumberland // I wish I was a whaler in sunlight and air / I'd rather have salt than coal dust in me hair / Burning oil in our lamps and soap to scrub in / down from the colliery row / with a pick axe to throw / Now when Kitchener called I was first to the deck / as a merchant marine on a seagoing wreck / The Atlantic we'd cross and whisper Amen / in fear of cold hearted submariner men // So now we are the quarry it's the turn of the deep / to have her revenge it must taste so sweet / With the oilskin on his back the lookout would cry / wait for their ballasts to blow and torpedo to go // As we measured the stars we let go a sigh / our loved ones must stare at the very same sky / And for those left behind life must go on / lamps must be filled and chores must be done // I hope you light a candle for me every night / watch over the flame and keep it alive / To guide us through the darkness / for we cannot see / a cluster of mines that will blow us all down below // Now the tables have turned and I must confess the fate of a sailor I hope you can bless / For I fear I will rest in a bed of deep green / in the year of Our Lord it was nineteen fifteen.

credits

from Tide, Timber and Grain, released April 1, 2016

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Paul Handyside Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

Paul Handyside is a folk and roots singer songwriter, formerly of eighties indie darlings Hurrah! whose songs now fuse pop with folk-tinged americana. The fourth album "Loveless Town" was released in 2021.

shows

contact / help

Contact Paul Handyside

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Paul Handyside, you may also like: