Words and Music: Jim Stewart and Gordon Bok
Jim Stewart of St John NB released his thundering great epic "The Marco Polo Suite" in 1992 about that famous ship from the same town. My wife Carol and I helped in the original production and recording and I helped with the assembly of this particular song. (GB)
We gathered the tamarack, oak, birch and pine
We took from the forest and took to the shore
And we gave her her strength and her breath and her line
With the skills we had learned from our fathers before
We worked in the rain and the heat and the cold
We cursed and rejoiced in our pride and our pain
And we never imagined our hands would grow old
And her like on the water we'd not see again
Chorus
We built this old ship with our sweat and endeavor
She ran with the wind and the wind set her free
And we once dared to dream she would sail on forever
But although she was ours she belonged to the sea
There's more in her making than canvas and wood
More in her leaving than going away
And maybe we loved her much more than we should
For a part of us left when she sailed from the bay
And will those that she carries to each far off place
Remember her song when the voyage is done
Will the empty horizon still carry a trace
When the rocks break her heart or she's too old to run
Chorus
Will there be a monument held by each wave
Will the gulls sing a dirge as they circle above
When the length of the sky at last marks her grave
Will her name be remembered with wonder and love
For they say that a new age soon will beset us
Their engines and boilers will soon rule the day
And the time will arrive when time will forget us
Like the sawdust around us we'll all blow away
Chorus
We Built This Old Ship is recorded on Harbors of Home and on Jim Stewart's album The Marco Polo Suite