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The Captain is one of those “it-is-what-it-is” songs. I mean, it is a downright downbeat song that will have no appeal for life’s eternal optimists and the body-builders on Venice Beach. But I have a fondness for it that prevents me fooling with its simplicity. So it must meet its fate which is fitting given the quasi-(queasy-?) philosophical lyric.
The Captain, then, is very, very slow (you’ll be nodding a silent “uh-huh” should you be listening to it right now) and meanders about in a single key and a minor one at that. The seemingly interminable seesaw of the two opening chords is broken only briefly by the hints of a refrain. The instrumental interlude halfway through sounds positively avant-garde in comparison. But only in comparison. The outro just sort of loses interest after a while and gives up. The lyrics are not throw-your-hat-in-the-air frolics, either.
Why on earth I should ramble on about it so, I dunno. Maybe I’m trying to laugh it off. Add a little humour through these short paragraphs that the song itself sorely lacks.
Still, me being me, I have no hesitation in commending it for download to your favourite mp3 player:
mp3: The Captain (299)
Tab / Notation: The Captain (229)
The Captain
Who is the captain?
Who is the engineer?
Who has the charts?
Who knows these parts?
Who has the eyes to steer?
Who is the captain?
Who is the navigator of our fates?
The sea is so high
I can hardly see the sky
Which is blacker than the jack of spades
Who is the captain?
Who will be there when the eighth bell tolls?
With all these accidents
Who has the competence
To save our souls?
© 2011 Dave Keir
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lovely lovely lovely Dave,in the last verse you sang “confidence” and not “competence”
really like it though….sung with soul and passion…:)
Yeh, “competence”… “confidence”… Roisin, I still can’t make up my mind which is the better. I suppose if you have the competence you are entitled to the confidence. I guess since I recorded “confidence”, that’s the way it’ll be henceforth. Anyway, it’s all a con of some sort?
D