The Farthest Cove

Part of the Folk Music tradition is borrowing, paying homage to, and just plain ripping off melodies, words and ideas. It sounds deceitful but it’s an essential part of the genre and all the greats have done it for hundreds of years from Bobby Burns to Bob Dylan. We learn by listening and copying. I heard a wonderful song in Maine last year while playing in a pub called The Drouthy Bear. It wasn’t a formal gig and a local musician sat in “informally”. He sang a hymn-like composition called The Farthest Field. I thought afterwards I would like to make a Maritime version.

The Farthest Cove

We are sailing, to a far and distant cove Far from pain, and the sorrow we have known On the water, lost in place, without a plan Hoping for the day we find this distant land

Chorus: Sail with me and you shall see, revealed the foggy shore All the troubles of the raging sea shall cease and be no more When the trial of night is past On this distant shore we’re cast Our new home the farthest cove Where we shall find A resting place at last

In the rising, and the setting of the sun At the farthest cove, the journey said and done There is grace, in the sea that salts the air At the farthest cove and I shall meet you there