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Ben Gunn

from Fences by The Altogether

/

lyrics

The table’s all wiped clean of the day’s madness
The children put to bed without a sound
And it’s nights like these when left to my own musings
That I wonder if the old man’s still around

Two dozen years ago I set sail from the harbor
Seeking solace from a grief that struck by land
Three dozen honest men all simply seeking fortune
Till the mutineers among them showed their hand

So slipping through the cracks unnoticed like the sea foam
As the captain and the cook each made their plans
Youth and vigor all I had as I made landfall
Soon to find that I had crashed on Ben Gunn’s sands

And I, after all these years
Have longed to his that voice among the trees again
If only just to calm these fears
That he might end up like the rest of them
Old Ben

Through the skirmishes and scuffles on the island
By the men who overestimate their worth
Old Ben took me by the scruff and shared the secrets
Of the prospect of escape from a hidden berth

And his words escaped like steam right from a kettle
Spilling endlessly in all directions known
And his wits though surely hanging by a thread now
Proved to be all that we’d need to keep from dying here alone

Quite the gentleman of fortune as he once was
Trading almost all his gold for a ride home
He contemplated where he stood now with the Savior
Never knowing he himself was my own

And I, after all these years
Have longed to hear his voice among the trees again
If only just to calm these fears
That he might end up like the rest of them
Old Ben

So we landed and disbanded here in Bristol
Where I thought it best to settle with a wife
And for a while I heard some stories of the old man
Robbed of currency but given back a life

Some contend he settled quickly into drinking
Others still say he roams wordless like a ghost
But I have to think that, with two eyes and two legs yet
For his kind he’s faring better than most

And I, after all these years
Have longed to hear that voice among the trees again
If only just to calm these fears
That he turned out just like the rest of them
Old Ben

credits

from Fences, released November 18, 2022

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