Track Insight / Lyrics
Coffee steam rises off the bollard top
Pilot checks the thrusters, tick and stop
Dawn breaks slow over the slack tide line
This old dock just waits for morning sign
Forty years I’ve held the heavy rope
Watched the grey paint peel down the wooden slope
He flips the toggles, checks the gauge again
Diesel coughs before the turbine whine
Gulls don't pay no fare to ride the wind
Tide don't ask permission to begin
He checks the pressure, reads the digital red
I hold my breath until the lines are fed
Heavy chain holds fast in first light gray
Pilot waits for dawn to start the day
Thrusters scream but prop stays deep and still
Dock knows the water, knows the captain's will
Thermos sits on the splintered wheel deck
Salt crust maps the journey on his neck
He talked to the harbor master on the phone
Bar's closed tight, boy, you're on your own
Gulls don't pay no fare to ride the wind
Tide don't ask permission to begin
He checks the pressure, reads the digital red
I hold my breath until the lines are fed
Heavy chain holds fast in first light gray
Pilot waits for dawn to start the day
Thrusters scream but prop stays deep and still
Dock knows the water, knows the captain's will
Barnacles sing a hymn the hull knows well
Every scratch a
