Ode To Big Blue

 Feeling “Lightfoot” lately

The oceans of the world were the home of Big Blue
He was the greatest monster that the world ever knew
And the place that he loved best
Was the waters to the west
Around the blue Pacific he did roam

Big Blue moved alone for a mighty blue was he
And the battles of the whales was an awesome sight to see
And he took them one by one and he drove them all away
In the mating of the day he was the king

Big Blue had fifty wives and he sired forty sons
Though most of them fell victim to the cruel harpoon guns
Ah but he was too much wise to get caught by the gunners' eyes
And so he lived at sea a hundred years

His mouth was as large as a tunnel so they say
His hide was thick as leather and his eyes quick and small
And his back was all scarred by the times he got away
And he knew the smell of whalers did Big Blue

Big Blue passed away to his natural decay
Beside the Arctic Circle as he travelled up that way
And there never was a man who was born with a gunner's hand
Whoever took a pan to Big Blue

Now the gray whale has run and the sperm is almost done
The finbacks and the Greenland rights have all passed and gone
They've been taken by the men for the money they could spend
And the killing never ends, it just goes on

The oceans of the earth were the home of Big Blue
He was the greatest monster that the world ever knew
And the place that he loved best was the waters to the west
Around the blue Pacific he did roam

—Gordon Lightfoot