| GBS at the HOB in AC |
| More crazy banter with the introduction of When I Am King. They’ve really been at home too long! LOL!
Alan was explaining how the next song was a shameful song written about a time he’d rule the world. Everyone knew it was When I Am King. He had explained to us in Buffalo several years ago that that second verse about the girl from high school was spawned when a discussion about former girlfriends occurred one boring rainy day while sitting in a hotel room discussing fantasy love lives. “I expect it (the world) would look a whole lot smaller,” Séan said. He had to explain himself as Alan had no clue where he was going with that one. “If you were king, everyone would be below than you. They’d look up to you. You’d be gigantic.” Alan said that then he could smite people and Séan retorted with “You would hew them!” Alan wasn’t quite sure what Séan was talking about and he gave him a look, which caused Séan to look back at Murray and ask, “Hew is a word isn’t it?” And Séan supposed Alan was thinking something dirty so he came back with “One day on the bus and it’s filth, absolute porn.” Alan came back with, "As some of you know, this tune is partly about what good I could do if I were King, like end world hunger, all those noble things you’d do if you were King.” “Nothing noble about smiting them,” Séan warned. Alan continued,"The second part is a hotel room fantasy which still never happened. But if I were King…or governor of New York…” The whole audience gasped, then shreiked, then holed with laughter. Then Alan got right into the first verse and shook his head saying “Oh my God!” as if he were shocked at what came out of his mouth. I have no idea if Bob has been doing this previously, but I noticed for the first time that Bob is matching Alan on the bouzuoki, note for note it seems, during Alan's electric guitar solo. But they didn’t have the bouzouki turned up nearly loud enough, and the bass was way too loud - still. Everything Shines was a surprise as the 'Summer song'. Someone behind me commented that it was their graduation song. I haven’t heard them do that one in a while. I love Kris’s drums in this one. After the song, they mentioned that their good friend Chris Trapper wrote it and, as Séan suggested, “He might be out there in the audience tonight! He has a gambling addition, you know…” LOL (Chris wasn’t anywhere near Atlantic City – he was singing in Syracuse!) Someone behind me kept yelling Mari Mac, but I wouldn’t mind not hearing that one tonight. River Driver was dedicated to “Captain’s grandmother, Geri Hearn” who was celebrating her "27th birthday." Alan needed an E flat from someone several times before he got the beginning note. And man, did they sound good! Bob was in particularly good voice for this one, oh yeah! All of them sounded wonderful. Bouzouki may have been turned down, but his vocals weren’t! Alan sang “10 months” instead of “6 months” and began to sing the castle verse again, but caught himself – “I’ll build a lonesome castle…again…and it will be a deadly castle...” Then he launched right into the correct last verse and they finished up nicely. Gotta love Kris’s bodhran playing on this one. "This is new song we’ve never, I mean never, sung before I mean never - only in the studio. It’s on the new record. Howard would you help us out? I have memorized the words but that was a bottle of wine ago.” Séan further explained it was a song called The Rocks of Merasheen from the Placentia Bay area of Newfoundland called Merasheen Island. Séan taught us the chorus and off he went. (Howard did his duty and held the two sheets of sharpie-scribbled words in case Sean got into trouble. But as Séan sang, he closed his eyes and I don’t think he used his cheat sheets. He even presented them to Howard after the song.) I have heard many Newfoundlanders sing this song and I must say that this is the best version I have ever heard. Hands down! Here’s the lyrics he sang: The Rocks Of Merasheen Lyrics by Al Pittman, tune by Pay Byrne , arranged by GBS, sung by Séan, paper held by Howard who photographed Séan's scribblings (what a souvenir!): |
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| Wow.
What a performance! Well done, Séan!!!!! Once we caught on to the chorus, it sounded really good with our accompaniment. “I think that’s the first time it’s ever been sung in Atlantic City!" quipped Alan. Of course, it was a first, period. First time sung outside the studio. Go us! For those who are curious, the following photo is of a chart of those waters in Placentia Bay that shows the rocks at the bottom of the Island. The blue areas are shallow areas and sailors had to be very careful here. Before the invention of radar and such sailors had to factor in the prevailing winds that blow you to the northwest and the magnetic fields in that area that mess with your compass, making it difficult to travel by dead reckoning - the only thing that was available to the average sailor. |
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