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RECKONING

from LIKE A WORLD by Patrick Regan Band

/

about

Inspired in part by a true story I first encountered in the book Longitude by Dava Sobel.

lyrics

RECKONING

After Gibraltar, the fleet headed northward
Into fog that had blinded us a dozen nights and days
One of our number approached our commander
With a plea that he turn the ships 'til we could see our way

Jack was a sailor, a scholar of water
By his own secret reckoning, we’d strike the Scilly Isles
High naval treason, that use of his reason
And the law said that Jack had earned the wages of a spy

Warring on foreign kings, none may keep a reckoning
Only the few would know where our ships were bound
One seaman beckoning, many met their reckoning
Jack was hanged, the old man murdered
Thousands more were drowned

No worse than others was Admiral Shovell
No more cruel than his officers, and not alone in pride
Home sailed his gentry with fair claim to victory
For we’d stung our old enemy and saved our skins beside

Harsh was their justice on one plain and honest
It condemned them as sure as him they’d hang before they’d hear
Thousands of others as blameless as he was
Were to die on the rocks beneath a fog that never cleared

Law came down thundering, none may keep a reckoning
Only the few would know where our ships were bound
One seaman beckoning, many met their reckoning
Jack was hanged, the old man murdered
Thousands more were drowned

Just two survivors were cast on the island
I imagine the admiral was sorry he was one
Soon came a woman to save or to doom him
Took his life with her hard hands
For a ring with sea-green stone

Law came down thundering, none may keep a reckoning
Only the few would know where our ships were bound
One seaman beckoning, many met their reckoning
Jack was hanged, the old man murdered
Thousands more were drowned

credits

from LIKE A WORLD, released January 14, 2023
Copyright Patrick S. Regan (BMI)

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Patrick Regan Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France

A songwriter and singer, I'm handy enough to be a one-man band, but lucky enough to rope in great collaborators. Never played for a living: living to play.

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