Send mail | Search site | Mary Celeste index
|
22 Dockers of the Rock |
From Mary Celeste |
[Enter the dock Foreman with official papers. He gestures towards recently-enacted events on deck and sings a slow introduction, perhaps to the 'oohs' and 'aahs' of his fellow-Dockers as they come down off Mary Celeste, each lightly carrying a barrel (clearly stencilled Industrial Alcohol, and evidently smelly) from the ship's hold. Tourists find Dockers somewhat yobbish, and initially look on apprehensively]
Foreman
I've had no education
'cept working in this dock
but I know an explanation
from a load of poppycock
It's just a simple salvage case
it's not a flying circus
The answer stares you in the face:
Dockers
Oi! Ask the workers!
[Doowop tempo: Dockers use their barrels as rock'n'roll dance partners]
Foreman
This little ship was trading
in factory alcohol
we checked the bill of lading
all the barrels should be full
there's more than sixteen hundred
they ought to weigh a ton
so why has no-one wondered
Where's that liquor gone?
Dockers
Where's that liquor gone?
[Foreman refers to bill of lading]
Foreman
Just read this bit of paper
It's not the kind you drink
It turns itself to vapour
must have filled the ship with stink
Captain figures where it's from
It wipes away his smile
He's sailing on a time-bomb
with a cargo that's volatile!
[Tourists rapidly join in with the ticking motif]
Dockers
If you're sailing (tick tick tick tick tick ticka)
on a time-bomb (tick tick tick tick tick ticka)
then you can't (tick tick tick tick tick ticka)
turn back the clock (tick tick tick tick tick ticka)
take it (tick tick tick ticka)
from the dockers (tick tick tick ticka)
Dockers of the Rock
[Dockers dance vigorously with barrels and shout: Tourists stand and clap or join in dance]
{shout} from the rockers of the dock! Dockers of the Rock!
Rockers of the dock! Dockers of the Rock!
Rockers of the dock!
[Dockers end up standing on a barrel each; during the next stanza they rock to and fro as if in a lifeboat at odds with a heavy sea]
Time-bomb, ticka ticka tick
Time-bomb, ticka ticka tick
Time-bomb, ticka ticka tick
Time-bomb
Foreman
The Captain cries "Abandon!"
to save his crew from harm
"Our ship's not safe to stand on
hope it's just a false alarm!"
Lifeboat like a feather
being tipped and turned and tossed
hits the heavy weather
and Eureka! Crew and captain lost
[Dockers tumble off their barrels]
Dockers
So there's your mystery over
and I guess it's a bit of a shock
to learn it from a Docker
a yobbo playing soccer
a dirty long-haired rocker,
a Docker of the Rock
[Slower coda during which the Dockers roll their barrels towards the wings]
Foreman
So Davy Jones's locker
has been opened easily
'cos the Dockers are the men who work the key ...
{Spoken} Work the quay ... geddit?
[Dockers sit down by barrels, close to Mary Celeste's deck-rail, and immediately start the next number's low nursery-rhyme refrain, which will continue under Sophia's sleepless complaint and Sarah's attempt at a lullaby]