The White Whale
By Bennett Konesni
3/11/2008
Guitar & Lead Vocal: Bennett Konesni
Fiddle: Mia Friedman
Cello: Ariel Friedman
Mandolin & Production: Jeff Lewis
The four of us had a band called "Fireside" back in the 2008 times. This is us!
Old Starbuck was a whaler boy
He grew up on the docks
He started on a pilot boat
To guide ships through the rocks
And every crew that he'd guide through
Would smell of rum and spice
They'd tell of tropics they'd sailed to
And giant burgs of ice
Of farmers who wore wooden shoes
And ground wheat with the wind, of
Men from Nauru with big tatoos
And girls with butter skin
Of riches wrestled from the sea
Whale oil by the tun
The biggest monster you could see
The great leviathan.
Tune: Off Nantucket (A section)
They set out from Nantucket town
A brave, devoted band
Three years without their girls back home
Three years without the land
Quite soon it seemed something was wrong
The captain stayed below
Then paced the decks all the night long
His obsession began to show
White whale, white whale, I will not fail
To crush you 'neath my peg
You'll rue the day you swam away
With my torn and tattered leg
Poor Starbuck and the other crew
Had signed their contracts all
And honor-bound they stood their ground
Like leaves before the fall
Tune: Off Nantucket (A section)
All hands, all hands, it's not the land
But the whale they call Moby
They threw off their coats and dropped the boats
Into a foaming sea
The whale exploded 'neath their craft
Like ivory from the deep
Starbuck, stronghearted whaler lad
Sent to an early sleep
And one by one the boats were done in
By the wicked whale
And the mighty fish finished his dish
With one swat of his vengeful tail
The Pequod in a million splinters
Sank just like a sieve
And here I bawl to recall it all
The only soul to live
Tune: Off Nantucket x2
Playing Notes
Key of G. Capo 5, play out of DADGAD using C chords.
Personal Notes
For those who don't share my love of Melville's classic tome Moby Dick, I thought I'd offer a peppy cliff's notes version. With some embellishments.
The tune I also wrote and it's called "Off Nantucket"