This is just one of those fine songs that songwriter/musician Larry Kaplan has written over the years. This one is about his friend Gale Huntington; farmer, fisherman, fiddler and folklorist from Martha's Vineyard Island. (GB)
Blue skies, south wind, fish jumping into your hand,
What a time to be working old Nantucket Sound,
From the Islands into the mainland.
Worn out, smelling of bait, you’d come home by the end of the day;
And the sun over West Chop,
Those warm summer breezes,
Made you think it would never change.
Get me my fiddle, we’ll sing all the old songs,
Now you take the high notes, and I’ll sing the low.
Good times and hard times, they’re worth all the telling,
It won’t matter to me, If you sing ‘em that well.
I remember the time, when you worked for a living,
Pushing hard just to get back to shore.
When you busted your back or you just wouldn’t eat,
They don’t talk much of that anymore.
When you sat with the old folks, fell asleep from their stories,
Stayed awake with the howling winds,
Sang you songs till the children
Were all tucked away warm, and the night tides come rolling back in.
Blue skies, South wind, fish jumping into your hand,
What a time to be working old Nantucket Sound
From the Islands into the mainland