Track Insight / Lyrics
Tar smells sweet on morning air
Oak ribs groan beneath my weight
Copper nails bleed green to bare
Paint peels slow from keel to gate
Barnacles grip the waterline
Rope frays soft where knots define
Foghorn blows low across the bay
Pilings shudder, hold the gray
I was built to float, to stay
Now I bend another way
Salt and splinter, I come undone
Tide takes what the nails won't keep
Fog hangs heavy, waiting for sun
Wood remembers, iron goes deep
Gulls pick loose the caulking seams
Water laps at rotten beams
Iron rings once bright and clean
Now wear rust like heavy things
Oarlocks frozen, locked in place
Time etches deep on weathered face
Foghorn blows low across the bay
Pilings shudder, hold the gray
I was built to float, to stay
Now I bend another way
Salt and splinter, I come undone
Tide takes what the nails won't keep
Fog hangs heavy, waiting for sun
Wood remembers, iron goes deep
Storms have bowed my gunwale rail
Wind has sung through every gale
Fishermen hauled nets, told the tale
Children carved initials pale
Lantern light kissed transom wood
Kerosene and salt stood good
Pier lights blink through midnight mist
No hand reaches, makes a fist
I drift slow, a final tryst
With mud and silt, my timbers kissed
The lamp keeper tends his flame
Knows each vessel by its name
Salt and splinter, I come undone
Tide takes what the nails won't keep
Fog hangs heavy, waiting for sun
Wood remembers, iron goes deep
Morning breaks on Alcatraz
Fog lifts slow like cigar ash
My planks surrender, lose their clasp
Current takes the final grasp
Barnacles release their hold
Wood returns to wet and cold
Salt and splinter, I come undone
Tide takes what the nails won't keep
Fog hangs heavy, waiting for sun
Wood remembers, iron goes deep
Salt and splinter, tide brings home
Wood to water, foam to foam
