Sorry for the dead photo, that’s what I get for ‘hotlinking.’
I’m glad you posted it and I saw it before it disappeared into the aether. it fit perfectly.
I want to see it! I want to see it!
So, while we’re on 1970’s songs about the sea and sea-faring men, How about Roger Whittaker’s The Last Farewell? 1700’s? 1800’s? World War 2?
The original poem is set in the 19th century, but this song, like Brandy, is timeless.
Not the poles.
“My ship lies rigged and ready in the harbor”—definitely a sail-powered vessel.
“I’ve heard there’s a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well.”—Napoleonic wars.
“I shall smell again the fragrance of these islands.”—South Seas, probably Tahiti or vicinity.
Late 18th–early 19th century. The Battle of Trafalgar was in 1805.
Columbo voice: just one more thing
What ultimately happens to Brandy? Does she really end up alone and bitter, as one poster suggests?
Of course, the song doesn’t say, but lately I find myself wondering who narrates a poem about
(1) the eponymous Brandy
(2) the unnamed object of her affections
(3) some (indeterminate number of) other sailors giving her the eye.
I like to think it’s somebody who’s clever enough to make a move as soon as Brandy starts to wonder if a wish on the ocean is really better than a smile at home.
Brandy still walks alone but perchance with a young son in tow, named for St Brendan the patron saint of navigators and sailors.
The town is silent on this matter.
Or St. John Francis Regis.