Stan Rogers: what does "Clyde in coal" mean?

[Bazinkum]

From the song "Flowers Of Bermuda" by Stan Rogers, what does the second
line -Twenty-one days from Clyde in coal- refer to?

Clyde a place, I assume?
Why is it "in coal"?
Is the captain 21 years old, or did it take him 21 days to get to
Bermuda?

Thanks.

[Mark Farey]

Interestingly, the identical expression turns up in Robert Louis Stevenson's
"In the South Seas":

He sailed in one of two sister ships,
which left the Clyde in coal; both rounded the Horn, and both, at
several hundred miles of distance, though close on the same point
of time, took fire at sea on the Pacific.

I take this to mean that both ships originated on the (River) Clyde in
Scotland and were coal-fired as opposed to "under sail".

In the Stan Roger's case I'd assume that the Nightingale took 21 days to
reach Bermuda before "foundering".

Regards,
Mark
Ottawa, Canada.

"Bazinkum" <no...@none.edu> wrote in message
news:3B61C4D6...@none.edu...

[dshe...@netusa1.net]

Mark Farey wrote:

> I take this to mean that both ships originated on the (River) Clyde in
> Scotland and were coal-fired as opposed to "under sail".

Or possibly "loaded with coal"?

Darrell Sherrod
Kokomo IN

[Mark Farey]

Yes, of course, the song goes on to say:

There came a cry, "Oh, there be breakers dead ahead!"
From the collier Nightingale

and I take collier to mean "coal-hauling ship" rather than "coal-burning
ship" (although it probably also ran on coal).

Mark
Ottawa.

<dshe...@netusa1.net> wrote in message
news:3B61EFDF...@netusa1.net...

[Buzinkum]

Just seems like an awkward grouping of thoughts to cram into one
phrase. Twenty one days from Clyde in coal. It's really just the "in
coal" that throws me. I found a couple of references on the web to the
Clyde River and how it was dredged at one point and widened to allow
for larger ships to haul coal through there.

And so the correct phrase is "twenty-one days" not "twenty-one years",
right? I've heard both phrases sung, which makes me think that the
person I heard (obviously not Stan) didn't know what that line was
saying either.

In article <bDo87.34421$PA1.3...@news20.bellglobal.com>, Mark Farey

[G. M. Watson]

----------
In article <270720012231290005%none@fake_domain.edu>, Buzinkum
<none@fake_domain.edu> wrote:

> Just seems like an awkward grouping of thoughts to cram into one
> phrase. Twenty one days from Clyde in coal. It's really just the "in
> coal" that throws me. I found a couple of references on the web to the
> Clyde River and how it was dredged at one point and widened to allow
> for larger ships to haul coal through there.
>
> And so the correct phrase is "twenty-one days" not "twenty-one years",
> right? I've heard both phrases sung, which makes me think that the
> person I heard (obviously not Stan) didn't know what that line was
> saying either.
>

Having seen Stan Rogers perform this song in concert more than once, and
having owned an LP copy of "Between the Breaks", complete with lyric sheet,
since it was first released way back in '79 or so, I can assure you that the
correct wording is in fact "twenty-one days" (how anyone could be dense
enough to sing it as "years" is beyond me-- that makes little or no sense in
the context of the rest of the song), and that the song is about a collier,
a ship hauling coal.
But hey, don't take my word for it. Here's Stan's comments on "The Flowers
of Bermuda", taken from that same lyric sheet:

"I took my first trip to Bermuda in May of 1978, and loved it. While I was
there I discovered that the whole area around Bermuda is a kind of ship
graveyard. I found a map showing the location of most of the known wrecks,
and discovered that a coal carrier called the 'Nightingale' sank off the
North Rock in the early 1880's. The rest of the details are pure invention,
except for the fact that Bermuda is lovely."

There you have it, then. When in doubt, go to the source... if it's
available. And, suprisingly often, it is. Is there no lyric sheet included
with the CD?
GMW

[Reinhard Zierke]

> There you have it, then. When in doubt, go to the source... if it's
> available. And, suprisingly often, it is. Is there no lyric sheet included
> with the CD?

The CD has the same liner notes.

Reinhard

[david.c...@gmail.com]

It's the usual way a ship at sea is identified in nautical language: her name, how long since her last port, what port that was, and her cargo.

So, "The Nightingale, 21 days from Clyde, with coal."

[robertdb...@gmail.com]

The ship is a collier (Nightingale)- that means she carries coal.
There's really no mystery here.

[Joe Fineman]

Beware! This reply to a 25-year-old inquiry is unlikely to reach its
author. I presume this posting is another result of the fact that
Google has no notion of how newsgroups (used to) work.

The current venue for inquiries of this kind is www.mudcat.org, the
monster that swallowed rec.music.folk.

The Clyde mentioned is a river in Scotland, passing thru Glasgow.
--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net

||: In pene paritas. :||

[james.k...@gmail.com]

It means he set out from the River Clyde, with a cargo of coal.

Hope that clears that up. David.C and Rorbertdb are on the button lol.

J

[Taukingur]

Replying 15 years later haha