Black Perch

Sitting down with my line in the water
Sun in my face in Snug Harbour
With you and your brother, and his wife and their son and their daughter
Out here in Snug Harbour
Pulling in the stingrays, pulling in the sand sharks
Pulling in croakers and black perch
Out here I feel calm, and the view is grand
Out here with my feet in the sand

Today I’m out fishing while you’re at work
Tonight for dinner I’m gonna cook us some black perch
And when I eat fresh fish pulled from the sea
I go to bed at night at peace with you beside me, and my day is complete

Sitting in the sand, lying in the water
Talking to my father, talking to my sister
On my phone, and we reminisce
My right ear ringing with tinnitus
From the many years of recording and travel
I go to bed and while I unravel, I think
Yeah, sure, for now there’s no work
But having no work has its perks

I get to talk to my family everyday
And every night I get to see your lovely face
And in the morning, I awake to the sound of birds
And I think of daily affirmations and positive words

Ray Leonard was asked, “what is a champion?”
He said, “believing in yourself when nobody else does”

Sitting on the beach, lying in the water
For the first time ever I’m reading Raymond Carver
My ex-girlfriend liked him so much
That I was jealous and I never opened or touched
One of his books, I never read a story
I was young and threatened, stubborn and petty
Then she died and now that time has passed
I finally lightened up and I buried the axe

Reading What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
His stories would have stumped me when I was young
His books would have left me scratching my head
With age and life experience, they make so much sense
And now I know a little more about her than what I thought I did
She loved reading about the sorrows of life and the struggles of relationships
And he liked writing about fishing, that’s for sure
I wish I could ask you which Carver was your favourite book

And while I’m sitting around waiting, waiting for work
I’m happy to be fishing on the surf, for croakers and perch

Oh one day when I’m back to traveling the earth
From Stockholm to London, from Melbourne to Perth
I’ll be missing our dinners of black perch
I’ll never forget what these nights are worth

Waking up next to you, to the sound of birds

Black perch
Black perch
Black perch
Black perch
Black perch