THREE OF US IN A BOAT
Today I'm going to dissect one of my songs I wrote when I was 19.
I grew up in Westport, CT and used to run into into this girl from the neighboring town of Weston. She was pretty and sweet and I liked her from afar. Once I went off to college at SMU in Dallas, I thought that would be it.
But the first day of freshman orientaton - who walks in the door? This girl, Ray. It was fate! We were meant to be together! The only problem was this little detail of her having a boyfriend. Hence - the song: "Three of us in a boat... doesn't look like this boat's gonna float...." It was our first jackopierce original. www.jackopierce.com
Jackopierce is my band that I started with Jack O'Neill at SMU in Dallas in 1988. Next year will be 25 years of JP. Wo. "Three of Us in a Boat" can be found on our latest album, "Everywhere All The Time":
Everywhere All the Time - Jackopierce
I loved you and you know it
So I wrote this song just like Farley Mowat
(Farley Mowat is a Canadian author who wrote the book, "The Boat Who wouldn't Float.")
For a little while I was your dual lover
(there was another guy involved - Jerkface. Well I was really the Jerkface. Her boyfriend got sent home from school to go to rehab and I saw opportunity).
I knew this would happen one way or another
Looks like I’m gettin ready to swim
The chances of his walkin the plank are lookin pretty slim
(this is maybe the fastest line that I've ever sung. It's a lot of fun live and I think you will enjoy it when you hear it. I just realized that in this verse I resolve to give up. I'm the one jumping! Why didn't I push him out? It's more fun this way. I had moved on anyway. He could have her).
Three of us in a boat
Doesn’t look like this boat’s gonna float
Three of us in a boat and it won’t float
(I have a fantasy of making a video of this song (the reggae version). It would be Jack and I wearing a cardboard boat costume with a very pouty, tall, disinterested super model type between us. Everywhere we go, we have to go together. We get in and out of cabs together, in elevators, try to walk up stairs, go into restrooms. Genius)
Hope you have some agility
Hope you have some aquatic ability
(Jack and I were both in the ATO fraternity at SMU. It really was the foundation of our career. Pretty anywhere we would play, 20-40 of our brothers would come out. We had some tradition at the house for Big Brother night where we had to go swimming. Aquatic ability was essential. That's all I'm gonna say).
We all know this is your ship my dear
Don’t say a word it’s perfectly clear
I’ve got my suit on – I’m goin in
(I often say "Speedo" and get a good chuckle. I was a swimmer throughout my youth and wore many a Speedo. My fave was the star and stripes BiCentennial edition. My sister had the one piece to match. From grades 1-6, I lived in North Harbor/Sandy Springs/Atlanta and we had neighborhood swim teams. I remember all the other kids would eat powder Jello but our mom would make us Gazpacho (cold tomato soup). I also did 2 years at Staples HS in Westport, CT as a "diver" on the swim team. I was a rare bird that could do a back flip and walk on my hands. Since diving was considered one of the swimming events - and the swimmers were only able to compete in x amount of events... the team literally needed a guy to jump off the board. Woody called it "falling with style."
With a heart as fragile as mine why did we even begin
(yah - I 'm a sensitive guy. I was asking for it)
I’ve found new days of sunshine
(this line used to be "I miss my Ray (her name) of sunshine." Wow. That was pathetic.)
Looks like we’re in for nasty weather (should have said you're in for nasty weather - she and boyfriend started fighting over phone).
But if you’re meant to be than you’ll stick together
Don’t come cryin to me when your horizons turn dark and grey baby
(remember that scene in Swingers when the old girlfriend FINALLY returns his call? But she's too late. He's got Heather Graham on the other line. He's moved on. Things started to get rocky with her beau so she calls me up and wants to "see what I'm doing." Uh uh girl. You chose him - good luck.. I'm out.