"The Pull of The Sea^©"

Lyrics by M. S. McKenzie (Unless Otherwise Noted) | Music Performed by Songs Across America or American Storyteller Music, All Songs Are Protected by Copyright

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"The Pull of The Sea"

Why I Wrote This Song

I wrote "The Pull of the Sea" for the specific tension inside a lobstering family when one generation's whole identity is built on the water and the next generation's heart is somewhere else entirely. His Bean boots are on the deck like his father's before, and I wanted that inherited detail, boots, lines, traps, to sit right alongside his son gazing out at the horizon, already dreaming of leaving.

The story behind the song is the phrase the boy uses for his father's life, Old Sow, a giant whirlpool pulling him down, while his old man sees Vinalhaven as a sacred hometown. I did not want either generation to be wrong. The father's devotion to this life is completely real, and so is his son's sense that it might be swallowing him. I wanted the song to hold both truths without forcing either one to give way.

What I care about most is the small, human moment in the third verse, hauling traps together, the son losing his footing and falling on his backside, his father's big laugh, because I wanted at least one memory in this song to be simply joyful, uncomplicated by the larger tension, proof that love between them exists underneath the disagreement about what a good life looks like. Songs Across America has plenty of songs about a place someone loves without question. This one is for the harder, more honest version, a life that is sacred to one person and a whirlpool to another, inside the very same family.

Genre:

Reflective coastal folk ballad built on acoustic guitar, fiddle, and squeeze box, structured around a single morning of lobstering that carries decades of family history.

Theme:

Generational tension over inherited work and identity, the lobstering life on the Maine coast, a father's devotion versus a son's yearning to leave, and love that survives disagreement about what a good life looks like.

Primary Subject:

A Maine lobsterman on Vinalhaven and his son, torn between the life his father built and a pull toward somewhere else.

Mood:

Tender and wistful throughout, carrying real melancholy beneath a current of warmth and love.

Core Message:

A way of life can be sacred to one generation and feel like a trap to the next, and both feelings can be completely true at once. Love between a parent and child can survive that disagreement, even when neither one is wrong about what they feel.

▲ Roll me back up.

Original Lyrics by M.S. Mckenzie, All Rights Reserved

[Intro]
Carver’s Harbor awaits in the silvery-gray light
Gulls wheel and dive where the tide pulls tight
The engine throttle is low as he casts off alone
Past Heron Neck Light to the white, shiny foam

[Verse 1]
His Bean boots are on the deck like his father's before
His lines are coiled neatly, traps stacked by the door
Through Sand Cove’s hush and The Reach’s wide blue
He’s worked these scenic waters since he was twenty-two

[Chorus]
But his eldest boy’s got a mind full of faraway things
Of bright city lights and what a different life might bring
He says this old life is just like Old Sow
…a giant whirlpool pulling him down
While his old man sees Vinalhaven as a sacred hometown

[Verse 2]
He remembers setting traps together in the morning spray
And throttling past Brown’s Head in the middle of the day
His son would gaze out where distant islands unfold
Where the pastel sky meets the sea in ribbons of gold

[Instrumental Breakdown]
(Guitar/fiddle/squeeze box break that paints the seascape in sound:lift and movement, openness, melancholy)

[Verse 3]
They would haul up the traps with the seaweed clinging tight
With two Maine lobsters grappling in the pale morning light
The lobsterman threw his head back and let out a big laugh
As his son lost his footing, falling hard on his ass

[Bridge]
Look son, you don’t owe me a thing, but the sea’s in your bones
Like the wind through the spruce trees or a foghorn’s moan
You may chase the hottest new tech, but I hope you’ll recall
The reach of this great harbor and what matters most of all

[Verse 4]
Back he came with his boys on the dawn-lit tide
Past Thorofare ledges where the gray gulls glide
At Carver’s Wharf he balanced books, wire traps stacked in neat wraps
While harbor waters lapped the pilings through their tide-worn gaps

[Chorus]
Some boys leave the harbor, chasing the wind
But the pull of these headlands brings them home again
The ocean keeps calling, the island still sings
Love handed down through the simplest things

[Verse 5]
Brimstone sunrise burning orange as he gripped the wheel
He felt his father’s phantom hand steady the seasoned keel
In The Basin’s deep dark stillness he finally found his way
Resolute:this old home by the bay is where they’ll stay

[Final Chorus – Variation]
So raise up your trap line and ride with the tide
The heart of a lobsterman will not be denied
Through storm or through calm, it’s where you belong
The sea is your cradle, the harbor your song

[Outro – Instrumental]