Okay, since I cannot find a decent interpretation of this song anywhere I’m going to post what I think is closest to what the metaphors are about in this song and the basic meaning:
The song is about the sinking of a ship. It could have sank rounding Cape of Good Hope (southern tip of the African continent) which is very treacherous. There are no survivors as noted in the lyrics “and no one left alive.” The rest of the song is about their journey into an afterlife as indicated by “Upon the seventh seasick day we made our port of call”. Port of call being “heaven” as in “seventh heaven”. Another key line indicating this is “no mortal place at all”. In the final verse the line “and burnt the mast” indicates that there is no going back to the mortal world, they have accepted this and their entrance into the afterlife is met with “tears of joy”. The line “many moons and many Junes” is a poetic way to epitomize the sense of eternity. Finally, the sinking is noted in the seaman’s log and seen by “your witness”. “Your” in this sense is god as in “god as my witness”. Since the ship sunk at sea with no survivors and would have been destroyed by the ocean over time there are no human witnesses to their “tortured course”.
Note that “heaven” can be interpreted any way one likes. It could be thought of as “nirvana” or “the great beyond” or even some kind of “reincarnation”. In any case the song represents sailors risking their lives for passion for the sea. It is a story of those who never made it to their destination - lost at sea forever - but live instead in the glory of god.
I think this is such a beautiful song because it honors all those sailors who have been lost at sea over the centuries. The nameless and faceless many who braved the sea with as much hope and passion as those who made it through their journeys alive. May they all rest in peace.
@fullmoon2000 Thanks incredibly much for this interpretation of what may be one of the finest songs in the English canon. Long has it been a favorite of mine and my elder brothers, particularly the second eldest of our family who holds a PhD in drama and was a young hippie when this tune was originally conceived and recorded.
@fullmoon2000 Thanks incredibly much for this interpretation of what may be one of the finest songs in the English canon. Long has it been a favorite of mine and my elder brothers, particularly the second eldest of our family who holds a PhD in drama and was a young hippie when this tune was originally conceived and recorded.
Just recently I performed this composition along with my nephew on cello on the sad occasion of our father's passing. He was a navigator for the RCAF during the cold war, flying Avro Lancasters over the Northern Atlantic in search of Russian submarines. It's a long way to Australia and Japan from there, but he, as well as many fine mariners in centuries past who made that journey by sea, eventually found himself on that side of the great Pacific. I can only imagine that an ocean of tears have been cried by those who know the full import of this melody, these words and those celestial harmonies, having lost someone dear who navigated the vast unknown in quest of some great purpose, but never made it back home to tell the tale.
I hope you don't mind that I paraphrased your words to introduce this song. I had my good brother David recite this short introduction (I could not do so, given that a swell of emotion had run me afloat).
"A shipwreck in the treacherous waters off Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America, is not the end of the voyage for it's crew.
Led on by their fearless captain their journey continues on into the afterlife and finally finds them on some heavenly shore: 'A sand so white, and sea so blue, no mortal place at all'. Burning what remains of their mortal coil they here embrace the infinite, with only God as their witness."
Okay, since I cannot find a decent interpretation of this song anywhere I’m going to post what I think is closest to what the metaphors are about in this song and the basic meaning:
The song is about the sinking of a ship. It could have sank rounding Cape of Good Hope (southern tip of the African continent) which is very treacherous. There are no survivors as noted in the lyrics “and no one left alive.” The rest of the song is about their journey into an afterlife as indicated by “Upon the seventh seasick day we made our port of call”. Port of call being “heaven” as in “seventh heaven”. Another key line indicating this is “no mortal place at all”. In the final verse the line “and burnt the mast” indicates that there is no going back to the mortal world, they have accepted this and their entrance into the afterlife is met with “tears of joy”. The line “many moons and many Junes” is a poetic way to epitomize the sense of eternity. Finally, the sinking is noted in the seaman’s log and seen by “your witness”. “Your” in this sense is god as in “god as my witness”. Since the ship sunk at sea with no survivors and would have been destroyed by the ocean over time there are no human witnesses to their “tortured course”.
Note that “heaven” can be interpreted any way one likes. It could be thought of as “nirvana” or “the great beyond” or even some kind of “reincarnation”. In any case the song represents sailors risking their lives for passion for the sea. It is a story of those who never made it to their destination - lost at sea forever - but live instead in the glory of god.
I think this is such a beautiful song because it honors all those sailors who have been lost at sea over the centuries. The nameless and faceless many who braved the sea with as much hope and passion as those who made it through their journeys alive. May they all rest in peace.
well said. I agree wholeheartedly.
well said. I agree wholeheartedly.
@fullmoon2000
@fullmoon2000
Sounds like a relatively accurate interpretation to me.
Sounds like a relatively accurate interpretation to me.
However, I think the term "witness" refers to the hand itself (there should be no comma in the line).
However, I think the term "witness" refers to the hand itself (there should be no comma in the line).
@fullmoon2000 This is perfect...
@fullmoon2000 This is perfect...
@fullmoon2000 Thanks incredibly much for this interpretation of what may be one of the finest songs in the English canon. Long has it been a favorite of mine and my elder brothers, particularly the second eldest of our family who holds a PhD in drama and was a young hippie when this tune was originally conceived and recorded.
@fullmoon2000 Thanks incredibly much for this interpretation of what may be one of the finest songs in the English canon. Long has it been a favorite of mine and my elder brothers, particularly the second eldest of our family who holds a PhD in drama and was a young hippie when this tune was originally conceived and recorded.
Just recently I performed this composition along with my nephew on cello on the sad occasion of our father's passing. He was a navigator for the RCAF during the cold war, flying Avro Lancasters over the Northern Atlantic in search of Russian submarines. It's a long way to Australia and Japan from there, but he, as well as many fine mariners in centuries past who made that journey by sea, eventually found himself on that side of the great Pacific. I can only imagine that an ocean of tears have been cried by those who know the full import of this melody, these words and those celestial harmonies, having lost someone dear who navigated the vast unknown in quest of some great purpose, but never made it back home to tell the tale.
I hope you don't mind that I paraphrased your words to introduce this song. I had my good brother David recite this short introduction (I could not do so, given that a swell of emotion had run me afloat).
"A shipwreck in the treacherous waters off Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America, is not the end of the voyage for it's crew.
Led on by their fearless captain their journey continues on into the afterlife and finally finds them on some heavenly shore: 'A sand so white, and sea so blue, no mortal place at all'. Burning what remains of their mortal coil they here embrace the infinite, with only God as their witness."