Ode To Big Blue
Feeling “Lightfoot” lately
The oceans of the world were the home of Big BlueHe was the greatest monster that the world ever knewAnd the place that he loved bestWas the waters to the westAround the blue Pacific he did roam
Big Blue moved alone for a mighty blue was heAnd the battles of the whales was an awesome sight to seeAnd he took them one by one and he drove them all awayIn the mating of the day he was the king
Big Blue had fifty wives and he sired forty sonsThough most of them fell victim to the cruel harpoon gunsAh but he was too much wise to get caught by the gunners' eyesAnd so he lived at sea a hundred years
His mouth was as large as a tunnel so they sayHis hide was thick as leather and his eyes quick and smallAnd his back was all scarred by the times he got awayAnd he knew the smell of whalers did Big Blue
Big Blue passed away to his natural decayBeside the Arctic Circle as he travelled up that wayAnd there never was a man who was born with a gunner's handWhoever took a pan to Big Blue
Now the gray whale has run and the sperm is almost doneThe finbacks and the Greenland rights have all passed and goneThey've been taken by the men for the money they could spendAnd the killing never ends, it just goes on
The oceans of the earth were the home of Big BlueHe was the greatest monster that the world ever knewAnd the place that he loved best was the waters to the westAround the blue Pacific he did roam
—Gordon Lightfoot
