Black Perch

Sitting down with my line in the water

Sun in my face in Snug Harbour

With you and your brother, and his wife and their son and their daughter

Out here in Snug Harbour

Pulling in the stingrays, pulling in the sand sharks

Pulling in croakers and black perch

Out here I feel calm, and the view is grand

Out here with my feet in the sand

Today I’m out fishing while you’re at work

Tonight for dinner I’m gonna cook us some black perch

And when I eat fresh fish pulled from the sea

I go to bed at night at peace with you beside me, and my day is complete

Sitting in the sand, lying in the water

Talking to my father, talking to my sister

On my phone, and we reminisce

My right ear ringing with tinnitus

From the many years of recording and travel

I go to bed and while I unravel, I think

Yeah, sure, for now there’s no work

But having no work has its perks

I get to talk to my family everyday

And every night I get to see your lovely face

And in the morning, I awake to the sound of birds

And I think of daily affirmations and positive words

Ray Leonard was asked, “what is a champion?”

He said, “believing in yourself when nobody else does”

Sitting on the beach, lying in the water

For the first time ever I’m reading Raymond Carver

My ex-girlfriend liked him so much

That I was jealous and I never opened or touched

One of his books, I never read a story

I was young and threatened, stubborn and petty

Then she died and now that time has passed

I finally lightened up and I buried the axe

Reading What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

His stories would have stumped me when I was young

His books would have left me scratching my head

With age and life experience, they make so much sense

And now I know a little more about her than what I thought I did

She loved reading about the sorrows of life and the struggles of relationships

And he liked writing about fishing, that’s for sure

I wish I could ask you which Carver was your favourite book

And while I’m sitting around waiting, waiting for work

I’m happy to be fishing on the surf, for croakers and perch

Oh one day when I’m back to traveling the earth

From Stockholm to London, from Melbourne to Perth

I’ll be missing our dinners of black perch

I’ll never forget what these nights are worth

Waking up next to you, to the sound of birds

Black perch

Black perch

Black perch

Black perch

Black perch