Colm MacCárthaigh: Vocal and Guitars, Colleen Raney: Backing Vocals, Matt Jerrell: Drums, John Whelan: Accordion, Hanz Araki : Whistle

Lyrics:

My mind is on the ocean
My heart is on the waves
And a cold wind blows my love
To North Alaska’s Bay
For a hundred years or more
Ice locked the shore
But the winters are warming up
And my love is on the trawl

The Stars light the daylight
There’s no sun for the freeze
We’re just waiting for good news
From Christmas on the Seas

Down by the shallow waters
We trace footprints in the snow
We watch the waxwings wash
And dream of icy flows
There’s a tree in the corner
And cards on the wall
There’s a waltz in the kitchen
And she’s missing it all

The Stars light the daylight
There’s no sun for the freeze
We’re just waiting for good news
From Christmas on the Seas

And the kids ask where’s there mother
She’s sailing to the sound
Of fifteen worn down sailors
Homeward Bound
For a hundred years or more
No woman’s led the haul
Here I mind the stars
My love is on the trawl

The Stars light the daylight
There’s no sun for the freeze
And she sails, my resolution
On New Year’s Eve

Notes about Christmas on the Seas

One of my favorite things to do in Seattle is to kayak along the ship canal. If you start in Lake Union and head west towards the ocean, the journey takes you through the Alaska fishing fleet. Hundreds of fishing boats, from the smallest operations to huge factory trawlers, lined up along the canal. The boats look placid and elegant when they’re docked, but if you get close enough it’s easy to see the marks and tells of the beatings they get at sea.

From Ballard, boats sail north to Alaska. That’s a long way, up past Vancouver Island, but it’s a good home port for the Alaska fleet. The fresh catch can be gotten into the US highway system far more quickly than from Alaska itself. It makes for an interesting contrast. Seattle is a tech city, with plenty of workers braving the hard slog to their keyboards and conference rooms, but Ballard is home to the some of hardest and most dangerous work their really is. The TV show ‘deadliest catch’ is filmed right here.

‘Christmas on the Seas’ is a song I wrote in 2013 during a particularly cold winter, and for me it’s set right here in Ballard. It’s either a song about a weary housewife, absentmindedly day-dreaming at home as her partner is at sea, or it’s a song where she captain’s the boat, and her partner is thinking of her and minding the kids. It can be heard either way, it’s always interesting to learn which way people go.