Hey paddlers Yesterday when out paddling the best trip of this season, I became aware of one of my paddling habits. Under normal conditions I'm not much of a singer - except for a bit in the shower I hardly ever sings. However put me in a kayak and I can't help singing out loud. Perhaps it's the rhythm of the paddle-stroke or maybe it's because paddling always gets me in such a good mood. Of cause not any old song can be used as a paddle song. I have a collection of songs for various occasions. A good paddling song should somehow be linked to the sea or the weather. A good rain-song for example can drastically help keeping up spirit on a rainy day. I'll spare you from mentioning any Danish songs, but these here should be pretty international: On a windy day with breaking waves across the bow, Fitzgerald's 'Take another guess' is just right. Especially the refrain '..and the deep blue sea is my next address - take another guess!' feels good. Imitating Diana Washington in 'September in The Rain' when the rain is pouring almost makes the rain go away. Or Holiday in 'travelling light' on those occasions where your kayak is heavy stuffed with gear and what-not. I like 'What shall we do we the drunken sailer' when I'm going fast. A nice thing about this song is that you can speed up the beat(like that drummer of the slave-galley does in the Ben Hurr movie: "bum - bum - bum - Ramming speed! - *BUM*-*BUM*-*BUM*". And finally there are the songs I keep for those special moments where the sun is shining and the sole suppose of the waves and the wind seems to be to help you. I'm talking fantasy songs here - you know the kind of songs where you make up the words as you sing. Adding a crooning or vibrating voice makes them absolutely terrible to listen to, but oh boy are they fun to sing. These are strictly for solo trips and I wouldn't be caught dead singing any of them. Only frustrating that it can be so damn hard to spot bird-watchers and fly-fishers in time... best regards Peter *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Apr 25 1999 - 05:28:05 PDT
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