How I came to record this rough demo of ‘The Band Plays On While The Ship Sinks (Trust To The Water, Swim Towards The Light)’ with my friend, guitar player, singer, song-writer, and documentary film producer, RICHARD EAGLETON.
I’ve known Richard Eagleton - who I first met in California - for more than forty years.
In the photo above, you can see, at the left, a much younger version of JS with Richard and another unknown person, in a geodesic dome near Taos, New Mexico, many years ago. If I remember correctly, the dome was situated on the land of the spiritual community where Ram Dass was living at the time, The Lama Foundation, and we were attending a public talk that was being given there by our teacher, the late Dzogchen Master, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu.
These days, when Richard is staying in North London and goes for walks across Hampstead Heath, he often ends up in a cafe near where I live and sends me a message suggesting that I meet him there for lunch or tea, and that’s exactly what happened the day after Donald Trump won the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year: Richard called me and asked me to join him for lunch.
When I arrived at the cafe that day and found Richard there, he asked me how I was doing, and, instead of replying with personal news as I might have done on another day, I recited from memory some words I had written, telling him that I wasn’t sure if it was a poem or a song, but that the words summed up how I was feeling that day.
‘I overheard the Captain come to ask the First Mate, did he know, that the rats jumped overboard several days ago,’ I began, and after I’d finished, Richard put down his coffee cup and said, “Come on, John. Let’s go to your studio and record that…!!”
So we did.
When we got to the studio, we didn’t rehearse, and we didn’t spend any time setting up multiple microphones.
I just put one of my guitars into Richard’s hands, turned on one single microphone, hit ‘record’ in Logic Pro X, the digital audio workstation in my computer, and off we went, with Richard playing a guitar that was tuned to an alternate tuning, DADGAD, with which he was not familiar. and me sing/speaking words I had myself written but which I had to try hard, in the moment, to remember, while at the same time banging on a Native American drum I had just taken down from the wall.
I’d written a lot verses for the poem/song, but I could only remember two of them, so I had to make up a third verse on the fly while we were recording, and, somehow or other, I managed to do that.
When we’d finished and listened back to the recording, despite its rough and ready quality, we found that we quite enjoyed it, and Richard overdubbed several electric guitar parts.
Since we didn’t have a bass or bass guitar at the studio, Richard added some bass by tuning down the electric guitar enough to make it sound like a bass.
After we mixed the audio, I later put together a very basic video to go with the track, and you can see that video - in a ‘World 1st appearance..!! - here on Substack.
I want to make another recording of ‘The Band Plays On While The Ship Sinks’, with all the verses I’d written and in a different style, but, for the moment, all I have is this audio and video of what is very much a work progress, but I hope you will enjoy it .
I’d be very happy if you’d leave a comment, for example, to tell me what you think of the song, or to let me know if, after reading the lyrics, you have any ideas as to other styles of music that I might use to develop the song..
If you would like to check out some of Richard Eagleton’s other music, you can find him on Bandcamp.
Thanks for reading and listening…!!
JS
(Please remember that the recording above is not a finished track but a work in progress)
THE BAND PLAYS ON WHILE THE SHIP SINKS
(Trust To The Water & Swim Towards The Light)
John Shane
I overheard the first mate
come to ask the Captain
did he know
that the rats
jumped overboard
several days ago
The Captain has
his telescope
to his blind eye
he's staring at the sky
muttering "Why, Oh Why?"
But the crew of tattooed sailors
they all drink and swear and cuss
plan another mutiny and discuss
just who has Jonah's jinx
And the band plays on
while the ship sinks
In the first class ballroom
there still waltzing gracefully
although the whole ship
is rocking
to the motion of the sea
The passengers, they all cry out
"Oh, Don't rock the boat!!"
And who can blame
those tired souls
who just want
to stay afloat?
But that crew of tattooed sailors
they still drink and swear and cuss
plan another mutiny and discuss
just who has Jonah's jinx
And the band plays on
while the ship sinks
I work below decks
stoking the furnace of this ship
I keep my shovel close by
I try to hold in a grip
I try to tell everyone
about our impending plight
but it seems my voice
is swallowed up
in the darkness of the night
Yes, it seems my voice is swallowed up
in the darkness of the night
So the only thing left to do is
trust to the water
and swim towards the light
Trust to the water
and swim towards the light….
But that crew of tattooed sailors
they all drink and swear and cuss
plan another mutiny and discuss
just who has Jonah's jinx
And the band plays on
while the ship sinks
The band plays on
while the ship sinks
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