This is a song called Bilgewater, by the band Brown Bird. Brown Bird consisted of David Lamb and his girlfriend MorganEve Swain. David passed away last year after a battle with leukemia. My wife and I had the extreme pleasure and privilege of seeing them perform this song live in Portland, Maine a while back. Halfway through the set there was a few seconds of silence. From the balcony I shouted "BILGEWATER!" David laughed, leaned into the mic and said "Okay!... This one's for that guy!" They kicked right into it, as if it was scripted. I almost cried, just like every time I listen to it now.
Bilgewater is without question one of the most (if not the single most) powerful songs I have ever had pass through my ears. This is what music is meant to be. The arrangement, the lyrics, the weight. It is melancholy and sorrowful. It is smile inducing and spiritually arousing. David's voice cuts directly through my chest. MorganEve's stand up bass resonates through every capillary in my body. I cannot understate the effect of listening to this song in a small dark room by candlelight. Alone or with a loved one. If you're alone, you will yearn for your partner. If you're with them; It will force the both of you to embrace one another.
God Bless and be well, all of you.
It don’t matter if the cold wind blows
I’m gonna wind up working in the thick of it
sunshine through the rain and snow
there’s an oily brine bilge water baptism waiting below
that’s just the waves slamming against the topsides’ sound
don’t let the ever rolling motion go and get you down
don’t let it shake your steady thread cutting hand
keep stealing ribbons from the steel and giving hell
to every halyard you can
in spite of all the wherewithal
to fight it all I will face it all
in spite of all the wherewithal
to fight it all I’ll embrace it all
when everyday’s like a war between the will to go on
and a wish that the world would spiral into the sun
turn your head toward the storm that’s surely coming along
if the sun was always shining and our load always light
we’d be shaking like a leaf with every God given night
and we’d break under the weight of any pressure
that was ever applied
will you be ready when the straw boss calls?
he’s got an ever loving bone to pick with one and all
don’t let his condescension get you down
just have the strength to know you’re wrong
and when you’re right the strength to stand your ground
in spite of all the wherewithal
to fight it all I will face it all
in spite of all the wherewithal
to fight it all I’ll embrace it all
when everyday is like a war
you find no strength from your usual source
there’s no peace, there’s no rest
your fortitude is feeling put to the test
when everyday is like a war between the will to go on
and a wish that the world would spiral into the sun
turn your head toward the storm that’s surely coming along
if the sun was always shining and our load always light
we’d be shaking like a leaf with every God given night
and we’d break under the weight
of any pain that ever came in this life
http://brownbird.net/
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