What kind of vessel would a friendly pirate sail? It seemed obvious to me, but I know I'm not the first person to use the pun of Friend Ship and friendship. Not long after I recorded this song on my CD "Give Me an RRR!", my co-worker and nationally recognized ski instructor Glen Findholt told me his boat was called the Friend Ship.
My goal in writing this song was to unite the idea of a sailing with people you like, with the idea of what it means to be a friend. In both instances you are going on a journey. I also wanted to celebrate friendship in general. I believe that most everyone wants friendships, and meaningful ones at that.
Perhaps, I've been able to capture those ideas in my lyrics. You can see the hand written Chorus in my drawing above. Below are words from the verses:
friends are crew to help you through
and friends are near to lend a hand or lend an ear
friends will be with you at sea
and friends will stay all through the night and through the day
I have some friends to thank for helping me make this song better. Outside of my immediate circle of family and friends, the first fan of this song was Hannah Beatty, and I appreciate her encouragement. Megan Miller suggested that "a special ship with our friends" might have the wrong connotation, so I changed it to "a happy ship with our friends", which I ultimately find more uplifting. Then the sister & brother team of Taylor & Alex Fabrega insisted that I arrange the song in a reggae style. To facilitate this musical recommendation, I recruited yet another friend, Rudy Dauth of the band Pulse Prophets, to play guitars and bass.
None of us live in a vacumn (unless you're the Hermit of Mink Hollow), and no one can do it alone. So, to quote a famous song on the same subject "I get by with a little help from my friends".
Submitted in friendship and in trust,
RRtFP
P.P.S. (Pirate post script). OK, in my heart of hearts I want this song to be my Pirate version of "Ebony and Ivory", even if my sweet sister (and friend) Melinda Maher finds McCartney's plea for racial unity to be trite, slight, and not quite right.
