There’s an old man who sits on the quay by the ships and dreams of a land far away
And the young boys they come with their surf and their sun to listen to what he might say
And he tells them of tails of the ships that he’s sailed and the strength of the gales past that quay
Still he longs to set sail and to sit on the rail of a steamship that’s headed to sea.
Ah! The roll of the ocean the ships that he’s tried; the souls of his friends lost at sea.
There’s a world of emotion but he keeps it inside in the hope that nobody will see

Now the ways of an old man, well there’s no one can tell and he keeps his own council these days
but the young boys they know where his heart wants to go as the sun disappears o’er the bay
And the tales that he tells of the calm and the swells seem a little clearer this day.
It’s as if he had seen in the wisps of his dream a mermaid that showed him the way.
Ah! The roll of the ocean the ships that he’s tried; the souls of his friends lost at sea.
There’s a world of emotion but he keeps it inside but he hopes that nobody will see

Now the old man who sits on the quay by the ships, he has not been seen for some time,
So the young boys they’ve come with their surf and their sun to search all along the shore line.
No more tales of tall ships and lives lost at sea in the smell of the salt laden air
Some say he was seen on a rail ‘neath the steam with the wind from the north in his hair.
Ah the roar of the ocean the boys stand beside, it’s as if they had lost him at sea
And they fill with emotion but they keep it inside and they hope that nobody will see

Performance: Vocal(s) – Dave Green; Bass & Harmony – Wayne McDonald; Acoustic Guitar – Kevin Cookson.

Songwriter’s Notes: I wanted to write about the way men hide their tears from each other – the macho man – truly one of the worst things about testosterone.