Dar Williams - The Ocean Lyrics

When I went to your town on the wide open shore
Oh I must confess, I was drawn, I was drawn to the ocean
I thought it spoke to me, it said, "Look at us,
We're not churches, not schools, not skating ponds, swimming pools
And we have lost people, haven't we though?"
Oh, that's what the ocean can know of a body
And that's when I came back to town, this town is a song about you
You don't know how lucky you are, you don't know how much I adore you
You are the welcoming back from the ocean.

I went back to the ocean today
With my books and my papers I went to the rocks by the ocean
But the weather changed quickly, oh the ocean said
"What are you trying to find, I don't care, I'm not kind
I've bludgeoned your sailors, I've spat out their keepsakes
Oh it's ashes to ashes, but always the ocean,"
But the ocean can't come to this town, this town is a song about you
You don't know how lucky you are, you don't know how much I adore you
You are the welcoming back from the ocean.

And the ones that can know you so well are the ones that can swallow you whole.
I have a good and I have an evil, I thought the ocean, the ocean thought nothing
You are the welcoming back from the ocean.

I didn't go back today
I wanted to show you that I was more land than water
I went to pick flowers I brought them to you
Look at me, look at them, with their salt up the stem
But you frowned when I smiled and I tried to arrange them
You said, "Let me tell you the song of this town"
You said, "Everything closes at five. After that, well, you just got the bars
You don't know how precious you are, walking around with your little shoes dangling
I am the one who lives with the ocean.

It's where we came from, you know, and sometimes I just want to go back
After a day, we drink til we're drowning, walk to the ocean, wade in with our work boots
Wade in our work boots, try to finish the job.
You don't know how precious you are, I am the one who lives with the ocean
You don't know how I am the one. You don't know how I am the one."