A Salty Dog (Procol Harum cover)

A Salty Dog
Written by Keith Reid, Gary Brooker
Lead Vocals by Lawrence Gowan

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All hands on deck, we've run a float,

I heard the Captain cry.

Explore the ship, replace the cook,

Let no one leave alive.

Across the straits, around the horn,

How far can sailors fly?

A twisted path, our tortured course,

And no one left alive.

We sailed for parts unknown to man,

Where ships come home to die.

No lofty peak, nor fortress bold,

Could match our captain's eye.

Upon the seventh seasick day,

We made our port of call.

A sand so white, and sea so blue,

No mortal place at all.

We fired the guns, and burned the mast,

And rowed from ship to shore.

The captain cried, we sailors wept,

Our tears were tears of joy!

Now many moons and many Junes,

Have passed since we made land.

A Salty Dog, the seaman's log,

Your witness, my own hand.

Interpretation

A sailor (a "salty dog" who spent most of his life at sea) recounts a tale of a voyage he was on across the Straights of Gibraltar and around the Horn of Africa to exotic lands. Only the captain knew where they were going, which was a beautiful land with white sand and blue waters (perhaps the white sand beaches on the coast of Kenya or the Seychelles archipelago), which was like Heaven. Once they arrived, the crew abandoned the ship destroying so they couldn't leave.

There are many interesting proposed interpretations at songmeanings.com