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Deepwater Requiem

from Earthly Pursuits by Harley String Band

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about

“Deepwater Requiem” is an epic retelling of the 2000 Gulf of Mexico oil drilling disaster.

lyrics

Come all ye hale and hearties
gather ‘round and listen to me
For a bit of your time, and a piece of your ear
I’ll tell you a tale of the sea
Yes, I’ll sing you a song of the sea
Our journey begins on no dinghy, nor dock
But a chopper in Bayou LaFourche
You’re barely awake when you look down and take
Your last look over the marsh
In the wake of Columbus, Cortez, and Magellan
We plow the seas for gold
But the treasure we seek is black and it’s thick
And it’s three hundred million years old
Yes, the treasure we seek is black and it’s rich
And its ten thousand feet below
A speck on the curved horizon,
on the deepwater waves she awaits
A whispered prayer for your family
As you circle your vessel of fate
As you hover in over your fate
Our platform is like no fair schooner nor ship
That ever set sail or was rowed
For it’s pinned in one place and it moves not a trace
As the oceans wash over the globe
A mosquito of steel, with no rudder or keel
It pierces the sea floor below
And drinks from a vein, the fossil remains
From half an aeon ago
It drinks from a vein, the life blood contained
‘neath the Gulf of Mexico
The earth may yield her treasure
But it doesn’t come easy or free
She’ll fight you inch, by inch on land
And by fathoms ‘neath the sea
By fathoms ‘neath the sea
So “swing that wrench” the driller says
“You roughnecks move too slow”
“And stack that pipe you roustabouts”
“And haul that chain down below”.
It’s a hole so deep, to look down it would suck the
Black right out of your eyes
If the plug doesn’t hold, the gas could explode
And blow us all over the skies
And the more that we drill,
and the more that we pump,
The higher the waters rise
So gather we now, to bow our heads
by the shore of the vast unknown
As eleven men pilot their funeral barge
Into a world beyond, gone to a world beyond
We chew on the smoke from the flaming pyre
We scrape the tar from our boots
Then return to our toys and cars and planes
and other earthly pursuits
For its marshes to marshes and coast to coast
And the crude on the waves as they roil
For the harbors, and bays, and beaches
And the beauty that we spoil
God bless us all, each and everyone
And anoint us with oil

credits

from Earthly Pursuits, released April 1, 2015
©2011 Stephen R Coffee (ASCAP) & Jim Johnson (ASCAP)
James W Johnson: Tenor Guitar, Guitar, Lead Vocal
Steve Coffee: Mandolin, vocals
Jim Clark: Irish Bouzouki, vocals

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Harley String Band Fairfax, Virginia

The Harley String Band is a trio of bold singer-songwriters who just happen to favor banjo, mandolin, and bouzouki in support of their adventurous songscapes. Jim, Jim, and Steve are old enough to remember when folk music was considered important and relevant, and they work to meet that expectation. ... more

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