Taking inspiration from Nathaniel Philbrick's excellent book "In the Heart of the Sea", "Bones In My Pocket" recounts the tragedy of the whaleship "Essex". The ship set out from Nantucket August 12th, 1819 to hunt Sperm whales off the western coast of South America only to be sunk by a vengeful whale and ultimately stranded its sailors in lifeboats. Those that did not succumb survived by cannibalism and were eventually intercepted by another Nantucket ship, "Dauphin". The Essex saga inspired Herman Melville to write "Moby Dick".
lyrics
I keep some bones in my pocket for when I'm agitated
Although the taste of the meat really was overrated
And my mate he sucks his buttons to cope with his thirst
I'll keep these bones to myself 'cause my hunger is the worst
A month ago we saw it on the horizon
In the South Pacific, it ain't that surprising
Our captain said man harpoons 'cause he's the boss
We're gonna shoot us a whale instead of an albatross
The leviathan just sneered and he lowered his head
Then he smashed up our hull until the masts just bled
Now we're stretched out here for weeks by the sea, and the salt and the sun
A row, ho ho, this trip ain't no more fun
And I felt it in my bones, I knew it in my heart
This vessel was damned right from the start
I felt it in my bones, I knew it in my heart
This vessel was damned right from the start
Now a man's head gets empty and his stomach does to
With the sea and sky and everything Blue, blue, blue
When the pork ran out we ran out of time to waste
Just had to see how BIlly Brannigan would taste
Now I'm suckin' on my bones when the skipper saw the land
After three long months it feels so strange just to stand
There's no head-shrinkers here, just the statues and sand
And we white cannibals are gnawing bones from a hand
And I felt it in my bones, I knew it in my heart
This vessel was damned, right from the start
I felt it in my bones, I knew it in my heart
This vessel was damned right from the start
credits
from Feral Children's Almanac,
released February 20, 2016
Written by Matthew Cullen and Kevin Sinclair
Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Shaker: Kevin Sinclair
Bass: Katie Grealish
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