A Mark In Time

Previous Albums => Get Lucky (2009) => Topic started by: shangri la 1 on August 27, 2016, 08:24:35 AM

Title: (10) So Far from the Clyde 5.58
Post by: shangri la 1 on August 27, 2016, 08:24:35 AM
(http://www.amarkintime.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5220.0;attach=2394)
So Far from the Clyde (Mark Knopfler) (5.58)

LYRICS

They had a last supper
the day of the beaching
She’s a dead ship sailing
– skeleton crew
The galley is empty
the stove pots are cooling
with what’s left of a stew

Her time is approaching
The captain moves over
The hangman steps in
to do what he’s paid for
With the wind and the tide
she goes proud ahead steaming
and he drives her hard into the shore

so far from the Clyde
together we’d ride
we did ride

As if to a wave
from her bows to her rudder
bravely she rises
to meet with the land
Under their feet
they all feel her keel shudder
A shallow sea washes their hands

Later the captain
shakes hands with the hangman
and climbs slowly down
to the oily wet ground
Goes bowed to the car
that has come here to take him
through the graveyard and back to the town

so far from the Clyde
together we’d ride
we did ride

They pull out her cables
and hack off her hatches
Too poor to be wasteful
with pity or time
They swarm on her carcass
with torches and axes
Like a whale on the bloody shoreline

Stripped of her pillars
her stays and her stanchions
When there’s only her bones
on the wet, poisoned land
steel ropes will drag her
with winches and engines
‘til there’s only a stain on the sand

so far from the Clyde
together we’d ride
we did ride
so far from the Clyde
together we’d ride
we did ride

Song lyrics © Mercury
Reprise (USA)

CHORDS:  So Far from the Clyde – From Foma
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/m/mark_knopfler/so_far_from_the_clyde_crd.htm

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UKJKZudNHU


Title: Re: (10) So Far from the Clyde 5.58
Post by: rmarques821 on January 07, 2025, 11:07:14 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jdEG_ACXLw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jdEG_ACXLw)

The documentary Mark saw that inspired this song.

Title: Re: (10) So Far from the Clyde 5.58
Post by: Love Expresso on January 07, 2025, 01:30:44 PM
Nice, but how do you know?

LE
Title: Re: (10) So Far from the Clyde 5.58
Post by: rmarques821 on January 07, 2025, 01:54:43 PM
Nice, but how do you know?

LE
Mark said that he saw that the ships built in the UK were being sent to India for shipbreaking. I was researching about this topic for my job and this song came immediately to mind.
The Alang is the biggest shipbreaking yard in the world and many of the UK-built ships have been sent there over the years, some of them quite famous. Besides, this documentary released in 2004 is very famous and was broadcast in the BBC. I'm pretty certain that's where Mark got the initial idea, as the other documentaries are much smaller and are about the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Title: Re: (10) So Far from the Clyde 5.58
Post by: Robson on January 07, 2025, 08:00:11 PM
In an interview, Mark recalls with fondness and nostalgia those beautiful ships built in Glasgow and known all over the world. If I can translate this excerpt well, I will post it here tomorrow or today.
Title: Re: (10) So Far from the Clyde 5.58
Post by: Robson on January 11, 2025, 01:56:00 PM
MK:

When I was a child I listened to the sirens from the harbor first in Glasgow where we lived right next to the Clyde, and later after we moved to Newcastle because we settled near the Tyne. I grew up with those sounds in my ears. The ships I saw on the Clyde dated from the first half of the 20th century but were of great quality and you could still see them many years later when they were flying the Greek flag. Ferries, steamers and absolutely magnificent liners with wonderful classic silhouettes stimulated the imagination. Their quality was a source of pride for the people of Glasgow and Newcastle where they were built. They were ships of perfection. Everything, every element from the engine to the hull was the best in them. The whole world knew them for their superior quality. But the time of these beautiful ships has passed. I saw a photo of their attacks in an article and decided to write a song about them.