Words & Music © 2003 Mary Garvey
This is about oyster "farming" in the tidal estuaries around Willapa Bay, WA, during WWII, when the women had to replace the men who had gone off either to fight or to be put in interment "camps." Mary, bless her, took the time to listen and to tell their story.
Gordon – 12-string guitar
You have to dig oysters when the tide is just right
And sometimes it comes in the dead of the night
The orders came down to extinguish all light
To our homes on the Oystershell Road
Now the glow of a lantern could bring an attack
And sometimes we'd sleep in the old oyster shack
And let ourselves down with a rake and a sack
Near our homes on the Oystershell Road
Some came from Germany, some from Japan
They lived for the oyster each woman and man
We said, God be with you, return when you can
To your homes on the Oystershell Road
For when push comes to shove your mettle shines through
And our hands and our feet somehow knew what to do
With the men gone away we made such a fine crew
From our homes on the Oystershell Road
In the sea was the sub, in the air was the plane
And the men had it worse so we couldn't complain
And the neighbors would honk us all home in the rain
To our homes on the Oystershell Road
We helped win the war in the mud and the muck
And prayed that our feet would never get stick
When the tide rushes in, you can run out of luck
By your homes on the Oystershell Road
Oh, how I remember the dark and the cold
I had hoped that our story would someday be told
But it probably won't 'cause we're getting so old
In our homes on the Oystershell Road.
Oystershell Road is recorded on the album In Concert