Blues Image: Ride Captain Ride Meaning
Ride Captain Ride Lyrics
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...
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Well, I was gonna make a wisecrack about this song being a seminal story of the Gay Rights movement in San Francisco but that would be crude and wrong and could never match the beauty and whimsy of the previous comments. What a wonderful site this is!
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My 11 year old daughter and I were driving home from her gymnastics practice and she ordered some food on her cell phone. The waiter told her her number was 73.
Since we had to figure out a way to remember 73, This song popped into my head and I started singing it to her.
The song is about 4 burritos two big and two small. There is enough for everyone if we agree to share and love each other Nobody cares when the burritos are eaten who got the big one and who had the small one -
Wow, are you guys all high? Some great answers, too bad none of them are correct. The song refers to Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Coockoos Nest) and his Merry Pranksters and the Electric Cool-Ade Acid Test. Ken Keseys psycicdelic bus "Furthur" is the mystery ship that left San Fransico on a cross-country "trip" to New York (another shore). The 73 men are the Merry Pranksters. The USS Pueblo is in another song called "I'm Your Captain" by Grand Funk.
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Wow! This is some of the most interesting reading I've ever had the pleasure of! Respectfully, every single interpretation, with included "proof" actually makes sense. And, even when the writers own answer has been provided in the comment, the answer was yet another interpretation of what he must have meant. Very interesting interpretations, extremely entertaining views, and sensible comments, and yet for some unbeknown reason, I laughed incoherently as I read on. I would find myself a very fortunate to have interacted with any one of the owners of these most intelligent, and interesting comments. I am curious to know why it is that any one of these commentators found that the song had a different meaning than what the writer gave for spawning it? Is it disbelief, or is the interpretation given one of the writer's answer? Interesting.
mykidsteacherisme@yahoo.com -
If you served in the US Navy, you have no doubt have head the term 'Spook'. This term refers to those Sailors that belong to a rating (job specialty) called 'CT', which stands for 'Cryptologic Technician'. Any CT knows that this song is about the USS Pueblo. The Sailors on this ship were listening to 'those raindrops fall', in other words, radio signals. In the Navy, CTs are known as the 'code breakers' and belong to the 'Naval Security Group', this unit reports directly to the NSA. The song is definitely about the USS Pueblo incident of 1968. For more information, look up USS Liberty, this was the same type of ship on a similar mission that was attacked by the Israelis during the 6 day war of 1967.
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Anonymous is right. It was a CIA ship still held by the North Koreans. The 7 plaintiffs against the N. Korean government were awarded damage by US Courts yesterday against the N. Koreans for the torture they suffered. Only US warship ever captured by a foreign government. See video of Bill Richardson visiting the ship last year on NBC. you will have to search, I don't have the exact link.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Of course it is about the USS Pueblo. That has been clear since day one when it first was released; pinera still tours now and then and still can hit all the great classic riffs for sure; not a Keith Richards but good.
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It's about the USS Pueblo, which was attacked by North Korea on January 23, 1968. One crew member was killed; the other 82 were held captive for 11 months. The Pueblo was ostensibly a spy ship, according to the North Koreans (hence, mystery ship). See usspueblo.org for history, etc. That's my 2 cents and I'm sticking to it!
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Neither is correct. Here's the text of an interview by the song's writer.
"The producer came in and said, "Do you have any more songs, because if you don't, this is your last day in the studio,"' Pinera says. "So I said, "Oh, I have a song,' which I didn't. So I went into the bathroom, and I shut the door, and I just meditated. I calmed my mind, and I started hearing music. I went out and sat at the piano, which was a Rhodes Model No. 73, which had 73 keys. So I say, "Okay, I need a first word.' And what came into my head was 73. I liked the rhythm, and I went, "73 men sailed in, from the San Francisco Bay. ... The song sort of just wrote itself."
The keyboard player clinked out a melody for the chorus, and Pinera added the lyrics, "Ride, captain, ride, upon your mystery ship. ..." and the rest is rock history. The song reached No. 1 in 1968. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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The song is not about drake, and it is highly doubtful that anyone in the band knew who drake was. Remember, we are talking 1968 here. This song is clearly about drug use and the counterculture movement. I understand that the lead singer has said during an interview that the number "73" came to him because it was the model of piano he was playing and/or the piano had 73 keys.
This song is easy to figure out.
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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
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this is reference to the counterculture of the time. Brothers and sisters encouraged one another to resist the culture of politics and unreasonable governmental policies. At the time, drugs, and especially hallucinogens, were thought to be mind expanding and could "free" the user.
Those who didn't pay attention or resisted the counterculture were too busy watching the raindrops fall, as in leading a typical, mundane, meaningless life
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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
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the "mystery ship" is a the drug itself. A vessel to carry you places. We're talking pot, lsd, mescaline, etc. As far as being amazed at the friends with you on your trip, counterculturists frequently got high with one another, in groups. "trip," of course, is a reference to the drug experience itself, most often associated with lsd, mushrooms, and other hallucinogens. The reference to the people missing the world you were visiting was again the "us vs. Them" belief.
Finally, the reference to the men rolling into the san francisco bay is an easy reference once again to the counterculture movement, as san francisco, ca was ground zero for the movement, with people coming to san fran from all over the country to join with other like-minded spirits. The hippies "rolled in" to san francisco by the car loads. More specifically, the haight-ashbury area of the city is more associated with the counterculture movement than any other place in america.
That is my best guess on the lyrics, and all I can say is that if the song is not about the counterculture and drug use, then the writer unknowingly wrote the perfect song for the times! -
Song about Francis Scott Drake's exploration of the new world in 1522. When he reached what is today San Fransisco, he tried to get american indian volunteers to help join his undermanned crew. His ship is recorded as having left spain with 73 crew members on board.
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