I rarely listen to the radio unless I am in the car on one of our periodic drives – usually it’s the local radio station – but now and again we catch BBC radio 2 – Graham Norton on a Saturday morning. He has a slot called Song with a Story – or something similar – a listener suggests a song title, they chat on the phone then Graham plays the record. Anyhow – a couple of Saturdays ago the chosen record was The Downeaster Alexa – by Billy Joel. Now this is not a new song – but getting on for about twenty years old I believe – yet I had never heard it before. I loved it – it, for me, was full of the sound of the sea – and I could see the boat rising and falling on the waves and hear the scream of the gulls – whilst the lyrics almost broke my heart.
As I listened – I found myself wondering – What is a downeaster? Where is Montauk? Nantucket? Which island was he singing of? What is a bayman? What are the giants he refers to? What are stripers? Why the mention of Atlantis? It made me so curious that when I got home after our drive – I logged me on to “ye trusty ol’ t’internet!” – first I tracked down the song , downloaded it to iTunes to put on my iPod and then set off in search of some answers. I found some - and learned so much along the way - geography, history, a lesson based entirely the around the lyrics - - and for a scrapbooker the most wonderful of all - stories - real stories in this book.
My curiosity had led me to a story I knew little about - yet as a coastal dweller – who has seen the same decline on my own island's fishing industry - so far away from the setting of the song I felt an instant affinity. I discovered that a "downeaster" was not unlike our queenie boats - probably a very practical design for fishing boats.
and ultimately to track it down, buy it, and re read - the book I mentioned in yesterday’s post.
But that's another story!
Thanks for stopping by.
'til later
Bannaghtyn Jx
