Neptune

I went to a concert with Amy on Saturday night. In addition to the rare treat of being on a date, we also had the great pleasure of listening to Jim Malcolm, one of the finest Celtic singers in the world. He's the lead singer of the Scottish band Old Blind Dogs, but this was a solo performance of (mostly) his own material. I really enjoy Celtic music of all varieties, but the Scottish songs and instrumentals are my favorite. The lyrical content tends towards battles and drinking, which is why it was all the more arresting when Jim performed his song "Neptune." The lyrics were inspired by an impromptu voyage on a commercial fishing vessel (a long story, but it involved unhealthy amounts of whisky on the island of Barra) in the Outer Hebrides. Here are the lyrics, and as you read, try to picture them coming from a big Scotsman, and perhaps you'll see why these words made more of an impact than if they had come from a more stereotypical long-haired dangly-earing flowing-skirt female singer:

Neptune, I think I'm in love with the sea
How do I woo you and make you love me
I'm drenched by your passion
Enthralled by your anger
Becalmed by your beauty
How do I make you love me?
But when he spoke, it was a plea not a roar
If you want my love, then go and tell them all:

Don't oil my beaches, don't slaughter my whales
Don't cross me with diesel, cross me with sail
Give me some time to heal up my wounds
Give me more poison and I will die soon.


Neptune I don't understand what you fear
Here round my island the waters are clear
I live from your riches, your birds and your fishes
I never would choke you, what do you need from me here?
But then he spoke of all the change caused by me
Your damage seems small, but let me recall
That in your grandfather's day there ran salmon
You could walk on their backs
Now what's left of great shoals
Those that slip through the cracks
Now the salmon's in cages, gorged on fishmeal
Sucked from some other sea by cruel profiteers, so...

Don't oil my beaches, don't slaughter my whales
Don't cross me with diesel, cross me with sail
Give me some time to heal up my wounds
Give me more poison and I will die soon.