54. The Sailor's Rest

©Stan Rogers 1982, Fogarty’s Cove Music

Of all the great songs written by Stan Rogers, “The Sailor’s Rest” is my favorite. It is so beautifully crafted, it’s as if you are present in the old boarding house watching it all unfold. I love a song that tells a story with word pictures and this one doesn’t disappoint. Add to that a gorgeous plaintiff melody and you have perfection. I am sometimes asked what songs I would like to have written and this is definitely one. Other songs that I have great regard for and employ a similar technique are Ralph McTell’s, “Streets of London” and Paul McCartney’s “Penny Lane.” The craftsmanship and storytelling style are similar in all three.

I first heard it sung by the late Rick Lee, at a party in his home in Natick, MA back in the 1980s. The minute I heard it, I knew I had to sing it. One line that puzzled me at first, was, “ Zeros in the skies…” It’s a reference to the long range Japanese fighter planes of World War Two, the Mitsubishi AM6 Zeros. It was years before I managed to track down Stan Roger’s own recording which, as far as I know, only appeared on the posthumously released 1993 album, Home in Halifax. One of the loveliest touches in the song is how the final line of the chorus changes last time around to, “… that were sold at the auction, down at the Sailor’s Rest.” A masterly touch.

This recording is from Clancy, O’Connell & Clancy’s album, The Wild and Wasteful Ocean, 1998 Helvic Music.

Lyrics:

THE SAILOR’S REST

©Stan Rogers 1982, Fogarty’s Cove Music¹

It’s acrimony down in the card room
Winning hands thrown on the baize
Forgotten cards wait on the end of debate
On the good old days.
Captains and mates getting testy
With memories not of the best
And tempers are rising
Down at the Sailor’s Rest.

And oh…how they talk of the day they arrived
And after the years, all the storms and the fears
Still very much alive
And oh…how their lives were spilled out on the floor
From the battered old seabags, and journals and logs
And keepsakes locked in the chests
That were stowed in the attic
Down at the Sailor’s Rest.

Blue eyes in wrinkled Morocco
Still search the horizon for squalls
Zeros in the sky and the watchkeeper’s eye
And the pawn shop balls
There’s spice in the wind off Java
And the bars in Tahiti are best
But the deck is too steady
Down at the Sailor’s Rest.

And oh…how they talk of the day they arrived
And after the years, all the storms and the fears
Still very much alive
And oh…how their lives were spilled out on the floor
From the battered old seabags, and journals and logs
And keepsakes locked in the chests
That were stowed in the attic
Down at the Sailor’s Rest.

There’s no rail on the mess room table
You’re dead if you spit on the floor
No grog allowed, no singing too loud
And no locks on the doors
But there’s always a fire in the card room
And the tucker is always the best
And they’ll end it together
Down at the Sailor’s Rest.

And oh…how they talk of the day they arrived
And after the years, all the storms and the fears
Still very much alive
And oh…how their lives were spilled out on the floor
From the battered old seabags, and journals and logs
And the keepsakes locked in the chests
That were sold at the auction
Down at the Sailor’s Rest

1. PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Robbie O’Connell: Vocal and guitar
Liam Clancy: Concertina
Donal Clancy: Guitar
James Blennerhassett: Bass
Engineered & Mixed: Bruno Staehelin
Produced: Liam Clancy, Robbie O’Connell & Donal Clancy
Mastered: Laurent Baraton & Bruno Staehelin