Words and music ©1993 Valentine Doyle
Gordon – 12-string guitar
Valentine once had the opportunity to bring a small sailing vessel across the Atlantic with a friend. They ran into the usual obligatory storm, and also something I’ve never heard anyone else describe: a river of fish in the ocean. Both of these are told here as seen through the boat’s eyes.
The storm when it came shook me clear to my keel
I lost all direction and time
I had no horizon, ran battered and blind
And the whole of the world was the great wave behind
And the wave rushing on me to climb
And oh, the ocean is wide:
Come wind and come weather, there’s nowhere to hide
And the ocean is wide
I carried my friends as a boat does her own
The three of us under the gale
I held on with the strength of rope and of wood
And human and little, they fought as they could
With the tiller and shortened sail
Chorus + You pray for your own ones to weather the ride, but the ocean…
By crest and by hollow, by dark and by day
By buffet, by blow we were hurled
For three days we drove on under staysail alone
Till the storm left us still and alone in the dawn
And bright calm to the edge of the world
Chorus + Come calm or come storm, you’re alone in the tide
The little fish came down the bright, breathing sea
From world’s edge to world’s edge they ran
They divided behind me and joined at my bow
And I on a silver thread, rudder to prow
And all the world’s ocean its span
Chorus + The web of the world’s in the sea by your side
With the little ghost wind the blue follow-fish came
Big and lovely, they danced in the foam
Ah, we traveled companions all down the day
Then as the breeze quickened, they were off on their way
And I heeled in the good breeze for home
Chorus + And the web of the world’s in the sea by your side
Chorus + Rise well, swim easy, wherever you bide
For the ocean is wide
Sarabande's Story is recorded on the album Other Eyes