Seventy-three men sailed up From the San Francisco Bay, Rolled off of their ship And here's what they had to say. "We're callin' everyone to ride along To another shore, We can laugh our lives away and be free once more." But no one heard them callin', No one came at all, 'Cause they were too busy watchin' Those old raindrops fall. As a storm was blowin' Out on the peaceful sea, Seventy-three men sailed off To history. Ride, captain ride Upon your mystery ship, Be amazed at the friends You have here on your trip. Ride captain ride Upon your mystery ship, On your way to a world That others might have missed. Show -- Harry Murphy (harrymurphy*@bigmailbox.net), January 14, 2005 AnswersHarry, if you read Walton Bean you would learn that Drake, indeed, had 73 sailors, but that was on his first voyage to America (the Caribbean, not San Francisco) in 1572. Queen Elizabeth had commissioned Drake as a privateer to sail for America and plunder Spanish caravans transporting gold. He did well when he brought his plunder back to Queen Elizabeth because he was offered to head an expedition around the world. A voyage that started in 1577 with five ships. Thank you for that information and setting the bands straight. It is very possible that my friend got those two songs mixed up. Still, "Ride Captain Ride" could very well fit as a Drake song. The singer may not have been concerned with perfect historical accuracy and the number 73 may have been the only number he remembered or saw while quickly looking up some reference. And that number 73 in context with the rest of that song makes it seem very Drake like. Harry, if a Florida "one-hit-wonder" garage band gleaned a bit of information to write a song about Drake, they would have known that Drake sailed down to Drakes Bay from Oregon, not up from San Francisco. After leaving Mexico, Drake started searching for a Northwest Passage (and a shorter route home). His first landfall was Oregon, but adverse winds prevented him from from continuing north, plus he had an unhappy mutinous crew on his hands (think of Grand Funk Railroad's song "I'm your Captain"). He then sailed south along the coast until he found a harbor at 38 degrees north latitude. Thanks for the great responses, Harry and Strange. I'll reinforce what Strange said about Drake's passing mention of his 1579 anchorage as "a faire and good Baye." I've done just enough sailing and just enough research to know that San Francisco Bay is a mind- bender for seafarers -- it's sheltered, has plenty of protected anchorages, and is loaded with wood and water. It's also so vast that early Spanish explorers described it as capable of holding all the ships of all the fleets in the world. As a defensive site it's also superb; there's only one way in and out and the channel is just a mile wide. As a major naval port to control the Pacific, it's unsurpassed John- I saw a one hit wonder show on television a while back that had an interview with the writer of the song. He said the 73 men came from the 73 keys on his keyboard. Nice thought on Drake but it was never mentioned in the interview. Over 20 years ago.......I was watching the end of an interview with the writer of the song on----I believe the Carson show. He remarked about how the band was "interrogated" by the FBI concering the similarities in their song to a real life incident with a ship and 73 men. He was saying that while there was "no connection with their song and any real-life ship, that our government was intent on finding out how the lyrics had so closely matched an incident (that if I recall correctly---hadn't happened yet at the time the song was released). Every time I hear the song---I flash back to my broken recollection of that interview.........which is why I searched out this site---to hopefully gain an answer to that interview. NOW, that I've made it even more cloudy.....Can anyone comment on this twist? I got the following excerpt from a web site while I was researching the same question. It came from http://www.sptimes.com/News/062601/news_pf/Floridian/The_captain_ride s_aga.shtml About the comment from the Johnny Carson show: "He remarked about how the band was "interrogated" by the FBI concerning the similarities in their song to a real life incident with a ship and 73 men." In the sixties The Philadelphia Experiment (Era August 18 1943 33 sailors & rumored to have been repeated on August 18 1963)was a topic of great conversation in High Schools and Colleges, possibly the story was a subconscious influence on the song writer. It was discussed on talk shows / I believe there was a book released in that time frame about the 1943 Incident that later on became a movie. Thanks fo the answers! The most probable one is the number of keys. As a kid during the sixties I thought the lyrics referred to the indian tribe taking over Alcatraz. My cousin told me the song was about the "Bay Of Pigs" incident. Wow?!!! This song is totally about drug use. |