The Ancient Mariners

Having conquered and established dominion over the Watertown Municipal Swimming Pool, by daily attendance, and successfully doing cannonballs off the High Dive, Young Gary and his life-long friend Young Norman looked for other seas to conquer. One of them said to the other - "Let us build a sailing ship that shall navigate Silver Creek, and the mighty Rock River!" So, off to father's workshop, they crafted a worthy vessel out of a piece of board, sawed to a point at the front, and a mast made from a clothes rack dowel, with a Viking sail cut from a red t-shirt and some lath-boards. Without a rudder at first, and in later designs improved with a rudder, they nailed a ball of kite-twine to the front end and the magnificent craft set sail! A good portion of the rest of summer was spent exploring. Exploring the various mysterious and dangerous riverbanks of Watertown, Silver Creek, the 4th Street Bridge, Riverside Park, and even Rock River Above the Power Dam (which ran past Norman's back yard).

To have it all and realize it at the time - that's true happiness.

RIVER SONG

From the film: "Tom Sawyer" aka "A Musical Adaptation of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer" - 1973
(Robert B. Sherman / Richard M. Sherman)
Charley Pride & Chorus

Chorus Singing:

Oh, a river's gonna flow
'Cross the land
'Cross the land
Oh, a river's gonna flow
To the sea
And a boy is gonna grow
To a man
To a man
Only once in his life
Is he free
Only one golden time
In his life
Is he free

Charley Pride:
River runs warm in the summer sun
River runs cold when the summer's done
But a boy's just a dreamer
By the riverside
'Cause the water's too fast
And the water's too wide

Then the world turns around,
And the boy grows tall
He hears the song
Of the river call
The river song sings,
"Travel on, Travel on"
You blink away a tear,
And the boy is gone

Thanks for listening and contributing. For up-to-the-minute thoughts, come on over to twitter.com I'm @dimbulb52